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AUTHOR: 


CRAWFORD-FROST, 

WILLIAM  ALBERT 


TITLE: 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 
INTEGRATION 

PLACE* 

BOSTON,  MASS. 

DA  TE : 

1906 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 
PRESERVATION  DEPARTMENT 


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Restrictions  on  Use: 


I !■■■■>■■ W^^ 


Crawford-Frost,  William  A[lbert]  1863- 

The  philosophy  of  integration.  An  explanation  of  the 
universe  and  of  the  Christian  religion.  By  Rev.  William 
A.  Crawford-Frost  ...  Ed.  by  James  Wilson  Bright  ... 
Boston,  Mass.,  Mayhew  publishing  company,  1906. 


I  cm 


3  p.  I.,  182,  ill  p.    front,  (port.)     19^* 

"The  system  of  thought  to  which  I  have  given  the  name  'Philosophy 
of  integration  ...  was  first  made  public  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Brooklyn 
clerical  league,  in  1895,  and  published  in  outline,  in  1896,  under  the  title 
Old  dogma  in  a  new  light' "— Pref . 


I.  Bright,  James  Wilson,  1845-       ed. 


171'7i) 


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Library  of  Congress 


(Copyright  A 136787) 


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GIVEN    BY 


f*  This   book   is   due   two  weeks    from,  the    last    date 

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Bliiiiiiii 


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WILLIAM    A.    CRAWFORD-FROST,    M.    A 


WIIJJAM     A.    (R  AW  roRD-FR*  )ST,     M.     \ 


The 
Philosophy  of  Integration 


AN   EXPLANATION 


OF  THE 


UNIVERSE  AND  OE  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 


By 

Rev.  William  A.  Ck  aw  ford-Frost,  M.  A. 

Rector  of  the  Memorial  Church  of  the  Holy  Comforter ,  Baltimore,  Md.^ 

1896  to  1903  ;  Instructor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Baltimore  Medical 

College;  Member  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  England,  Etc. 


Edited  by 

James  Wilson  Bright,  Ph.  D. 

Professor  of  English  Philology,  John's  Hopkins  University;  Hon. 

Secretary  for  America  of  Chaucer  Society  ;  President,  1902-3, 

Modern  Langiuige  Association  of  America,  Etc.,  Etc. 


IQOO 

MAY  HEW  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
Boston,  Mass. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Copyrighted,  1906. 

VV.  A.  Crawfokd-Frost,  M.  A. 

All  rights  reserved. 


CHAPTER 

I.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 
Explanatory  of  the  Creation,  Gov- 
ernment AND  Destiny  of  the  Uni- 
verse  

II.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 
Explanatory  of  the  Incarnation  of 
God  in  Jesus  Christ. 

III.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 

Explanatory  of  the  Miracles  of 
Christ 

IV.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 

Set  Forth   in   the  Teachings   of 

Christ 

V.  The  Temporary  Triumph  of  the  Dis- 
integrator in  the  Sufferings  and 

Death  of  Christ 

VI.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 
Explanatory  of  the  Place  of  De- 
parted Spirits,  and  of  the  Spirit- 
ual Environment  of  Man. 
VII.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 
Explanatory  of  the  Resurrection 
AND  Ascension  of  Christ. 
VIII.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 
Explanatory  of  the  Phenomena  of 
Pentecost  and  the  Work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  . 


PAGE 


2S 


37 


69 


93 


109 


128 


143 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS— CONTINUED 


PAGE 


CHAPTER 


IX  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 
Explanatory  of  the  Organization 
AND  Aims  of  the  Christian  Church. 

X.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 
Explanatory  of  the  Communion  of 
Saints  and  the  Remission  of  Sins  by 
THE  Universal  Integrator.     . 

XI.  The  Philosophy  of  Integration  as 
Explanatory  of  the  Final  Destiny 
OF  Man.  .        .        •        -        • 


1^2 


1 60 


170 


PREFACE, 


The  system  of  thought  to  which  I  have  given  the 
name  "Philosophy  of  Integration"  resembles,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  Ideahstic  Philosophy  of  Hegel,  and  on 
the  other,  the  Synthetic  Philosophy  of  Herbert  Spencer; 
but  it  differs  from  either,  or  both,  as  a  child  differs 
from  its  parents.  It  was  first  made  public  in  a  paper 
read  before  the  Brooklyn  Clerical  League,  in  1895,  ^^^ 
published^ in  outHne,  in  1896,  under  the  title  "Old 
Dogma  in  a  New  Light"  for  the  facts  in  the  life  of 
Christ  I  have  gone  chiefly  to  the  Bible  itself,  but  have 
also  made  use  of  the  works  of  Pearson,  Blunt,  Liddon, 
Westcott,  Farrar  and  others,  whose  assistance  I 
gratefully  acknowledge. 

William  A.  Crawford-Frost. 

Baltimore, 
1906. 


mmmm 


SB 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  EXPLANATORY  OF 
THE  CREATION,  GOVERNMENT,  AND  DESTINY  OF  THE 
UNIVERSE. 

Mr.  Edward  Clodd  and  his  friend,  the  late  Mr. 
Grant  Allen,  agreed  upon  the  following  definitions  of 
the  terms  'Tower",  "Force",  and  "Energy": 

"Power.  Motion  throughout  the  universe  is  pro- 
duced or  destroyed,  quickened  or  retarded,  increased  or 
lessened  by  two  indestructible  powers  of  opposite 
nature  to  each  other,  (a)  Force  and  (b)  Energy. 

Force  is  that  which  produces  or  quickens  motions 
binding  together  two  or  more  particles  of  ponderable 
matter,  and  which  retards  or  resists  motions  tending  to 
separate  such  particles. 

Energy  is  that  which  produces  or  quickens  motions 
separating,  and  which  resists  or  retards  motions  bind- 
ing together,  two  or  more  particles  of  matter,  or  of  the 
ethereal  medium."  * 

Taking  these  terms  in  the  sense  here  used,  we  shall 
proceed  upon  the  hypothesis  that  force  is  only  a  name 
for  the  working  of  God,  the  Unifier  and  Preserver, 
the  Integrator,  in  the  universe,  and  that  energy  is  a 
name  for  the  working  of  His  opposite,  the  Evil  Spirit, 
the  Destroyer  and  Disintegrator,  the  person  represented 

*  Edward  Clodd,  "The  Story  of  Creation",  New  York,  Humbolt 
Publishing  Co.,  1888,  p.  7. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

to  us  in  the  Scriptures  not  as  an  everlasting  being  like 
God  but  as  a  fallen  angel,  one  having  a  temporal  and 
not  an  eternal  existence. 

By  force  we  mean  that  which  integrates  and  con- 
structs. By  energy  that  which  disintegrates  and  de- 
stroys. To  say  that  force  is  God  is  not  to  say  that 
God  is  mere  force.  All  force  may  be  God,  and  only 
some  of  God  force;  and  that  in  Him  which  transcends 
it  may  contain  His  personality.  , 

This  accords  with  the  conflict,  observed  m  nature, 
between  the  creating  and  preserving  force  of  unity  on 
the  one  hand,  showing  itself  in  the  three  forms  of 
chemical  affinity,  molecular  cohesion  and  gravitation, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  disintegrating  energy  o 
diversity,  showing  itself  in  the  threefold  form  of,(i)  light 
which  causes,  especially,  disintegration  of  atomic  or 
chemical  union;  (2)  heat,  which  antagomzes,  especially, 
molecular  cohesion,  and  (3)  electrical  repulsion,  wluch 
combats  especially  the  gravitation  of  bodies.  But 
chemical  affinity,  molecular  cohesion,  and  gravitation  are 
three  forms  of  the  same  force;  and  hght,  heat,  and 
electricity  are  not  only  one  but  also  transmutable. 

Instead  of  reducing  God  to  mere  force,  let  us  regard 
this  trinity  in  unity,  of  chemical  affinity,  molecular 
cohesion,  and  gravitation,  as  a  mode  of  God  s  working. 
As  He  really  is  in  Heaven,  He  may  be  without  body, 
parts,  or  passions;  but  as  He  mamfests  Himself  to 
us  on  the  earth.  He  may  appear  to  have  all  these. 
He  shows  Himself  to  us  as  force  in  the  natural  world. 

For  man  we  have  the  threefold  manifestation  of 
God's  working    as  beauty,    goodness,    and  truth,  a 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

harmonizing  trinity,  together  with  the  disintegrating 
trinity  of  ugliness,  evil  and  error,  which  are  the  work  of 
the  Devil.  The  origin  of  evil  is,  therefore,  a  question 
inside  a  wider  problem,  which  embraces  also  ugliness 
and  error,  viz.,  the  problem  of  the  origin  and  nature  of 
the  Devil.  Our  contention  is  that  the  Devil  is 
God's  own  limitation  and  relaxation  of  Himself.  He 
is  God's  servant,  and  is  allowed  for  God's  own  pre- 
ordained purpose  a  succession  of  temporary  triumphs. 
In  reality  God  is  Absolute  Unity.  In  Him  is  no 
''variableness  or  shadow  of  turning."  Yet  He  has 
chosen  to  relax  Himself  into  the  Becoming  by  a  con- 
flict v^th  a  part  of  Himself,  which  is  a  mere  negation 
of  Himself.  The  Devil  is  not  a  real  person  but  only 
an  apparent  or  actual  one.  By  actuahty  we  mean  the 
universe  as  we  see  it.  By  reahty  we  signify  the  universe 
as  God  sees  it  to  be  in  its  true  nature.  The  Devil  is  thus 
a  foil  for  the  attributes  of  an  All- Wise  and  Beneficent 
Creator. 

We  are  in  the  era  of  the  gradual,  but  continuous, 
triumph  of  unity.  When  all  the  atoms  in  the  universe 
are  brought  together  into  a  solid,  absolutely  cold, 
homogeneous  mass,  our  era  will  have  ended,  and  the 
Destroyer  will  be  annihilated,  and  there  may  begin  the 
gradual  triumph  of  separation  which  will  end  only 
when  all  the  elements  are  distributed  again  throughout 
space  into  an  imponderable,  invisible,  and  altogether 
imperceptible  ether,  every  atom  of  which,  even  though 
it  be  divided  to  nothingness,  so  far  as  our  powers  of 
apprehension  are  concerned,  will  be  a  partial  incarna- 
tion of  both  God  and  Satan. 


I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

All  the  heavenly  bodies  appear  to  be  governed  by 
fixed  laws.  Their  movements  are  systematic.  Hitherto 
we  have  not  been  able  to  fathom  the  secret  of  their 
actions.  Condensation  of  nebulous  matter  into  suns, 
and  thence  into  planets,  and  thence  into  frozen  sateUites, 
such  as  our  moon,  we  observe,  by  scientific  methods; 
and  may  we  not  legitimately  infer,  by  analogy,  that 
just  as  the  motion  of  the  moon  is  regulated  by  our  earth, 
and  that  of  the  earth  by  our  sun,  so  our  sun  with  its 
whole  system  is  governed  by  a  still  larger  sun,  which 
in  turn  takes  its  direction  from  a  greater,  and  so  onward 
till  there  is  reached  a  central  sphere  which  regulates  all 
the  stars,  planets,  nebulous  matter,  and  ethereal 
media  in  the  imiverse?  Further,  what  is  there  incon- 
sistent, either  with  science  or  revelation,  in  our  regarding 
this  central  sphere  as  the  Heaven  of  the  theologians 
and  the  abode  of  God's  absolute  self-consciousness  or 
personality  ?  Even  as  my  mind  exceeds  and  transcends 
my  body,  so  God's  mind  exceeds  and  transcends  the 
material  universe.  Just  as  the  motions  of  my  body  are 
worked  from  the  co-ordinating  centre  in  my  brain,  so 
the  motions  of  the  material  universe  may  be  worked 
from  the  centre  of  His  personahty,  which  orthodox 
Christians  locate  in  a  place  called  Heaven.  There 
only  may  dwell  beauty,  goodness,  and  truth  in  infinite 
perfection.  On  our  distant  little  earth  the  atoms  are 
partially  conscious  of  their  Godhead  or  devilhood, 
and  beauty,  goodness,  and  truth  are  slowly  working 
their  way  Heavenward  into  recognition. 

Spectrum  analysis  shows  us  that  nebulous  masses  arc 
composed  of  some  of  the  same  elements  that  make  up 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

our  earth;  and  though  we  have  not  succeeded  in  re- 
ducing our  seventy-odd  elementary  atoms  to  one 
universal  substance,  we  have  observed  in  them  certain 
rythmic  inner  laws  from  which  we  not  unfairly  infer 
that  their  differences  may  be  merely  quantitative, 
and  that  they  may  in  reahty  be  one.  The  nebulous 
mass  is  a  condensation  of  the  infinitely  rare  distribution 
of  these  atoms.  To  us  it  appears  as  creation  out  of 
nothing  by  the  deliberate  design  of  an  all-powerful  God 
who  manifests  Himself  as  the  great  condenser  and 
integrator.  It  appears  as  the  creation  out  of  nothing 
because  it  is  beyond  the  sensuous  apprehension  or 
rational  conception  of  man  .  The  Christian  believes 
in  the  omnipresence  of  God,  nominally,  but  usually 
shrinks  from  admitting  that  God  is  in  stones  and  trees. 
If  we  are  to  escape  the  unsatisfactory  hypothesis  of 
blind  necessity,  we  must  beheve  that  God  and  Satan  fill 
every  atom  of  the  nebulous  mass  that  condenses 
into  a  planet,  and  that  it  so  condenses  by  the  triumph 
of  God  over  Satan.  Although  no  atom  can  contain 
the  whole  of  God,  yet  the  two,  God  and  Satan,  are  in 
each  atom  of  our  earth.  Life  is  that  which  holds  atoms 
together;  death  is  that  which  disintegrates  them.  As 
integration  is  evolved,  life  is  developed  into  recognizable 
forms,  and  begins  to  manifest  its  gradual  triumph  over 
death.  All  that  is  is  alive.  There  is  no  such  reality  as 
inorganic  nature.  Rocks  live.  Their  atoms  have  enough 
subconsciousness  to  enable  them  to  combine  with  acids, 
or  what  not,  by  that  which  we  call  chemical  affinity. 
Dead  things  are  merely  those  of  which  the  iorm  of  life 
is  too  minute  for  our  cognizance.    Everything  in  the 


5 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

universe  knows  enough  to  do  that  which  it  does,  and 
everything  does  something,  if  it  be  only  to  hold  together 
and  be  itself.  The  subconsciousness  of  the  atoms 
cohering  in  a  piece  of  chalk  is  a  different  kind  of  con- 
sciousness from  that  of  man.  A  difference  of  degree 
becomes  a  difference  in  kind.  When  we  deny  the 
subconsciousness  of  the  atoms,  we  do  not  mean  to 
assert  that  they  do  not  know  enough  to  cohere.  We 
only  mean  that  they  do  not  know  that  they  know. 

After  the  nebulous  mass  had  condensed  into  a  sun 
and  the  sun  had  contracted  into  our  earth,  that  which 
we  would  call  life  became  manifest.    In  the  misty 
oceans  that  had  been  precipitated  from  the   integrat- 
ing elements   of  the  atmosphere  teemed  monera,  and 
amoebae,  and  other  little -differentiated  organisms.  This 
was  not  the  creation  of  life  from  the  lifeless,  but  simply 
the  evolution  of  a  form  of  life  too  fine  to  be  recognized 
by  us  into  a  form  that  comes  within  our  ken.    Passing 
over  ages  of  the  continued  struggle  of  God  with  Satan, 
of  the  constructing  force  with  the  destroying  energy,  we 
find  that  God  has,  in  spite  of  Satan,  at  last  made  for 
Himself  a  machine  called  the  human  brain,  in  which  He 
and  Satan,  as  on  a  battle  ground,  contend  to  make  good- 
ness and  wickedness,   respectively,  prevail.    We  have 
no  right  to  assume  that  our  thought  is  in  our  brains. 
When  one   considers  the  number  of   ideas   that  are 
recorded  in  the  mind  of  a  man  of  eighty,  recollections 
extending  back  to  childhood,  one   is  inclined  to  be- 
lieve that  if    there    were    retained   in   the    brain    a 
separate  impression,  or  material  change,  corresponding 
to  each  thought,  it  would  require  a  larger  organ  than 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

our  brain  to  hold  these  impressions;  and  it  appears  far 
more  conceivable  that  our  thoughts  are  stored  in  our 
spiritual  environment,  which  uses  our  brains  to  make 
itself  manifest,  just  as  electricity  makes  itself  known  in 
an  electric  machine.  There  is  a  little  universe  of  living 
beings  in  the  end  of  my  finger.  I  examine  its  parts 
with  the  microscope,  and  I  see  the  blood  corpuscles 
and  the  minute  cells.  I  can  control  this  little  world. 
I  can  cause  violent  motion  of  its  inhabitants  by 
warmth,  or  stagnation  and  apathy  by  cold.  I  can  put 
my  finger  in  the  fire  and  disperse  its  atoms  to  apparent 
nothingness.  I  can  put  a  ring  around  it  and  cause  it  to 
decay  by  defective  supply  of  living  organisms.  It  is  a 
part  of  my  body.  So  far  as  freedom  is  concerned,  what 
it  is  to  me  our  world  is  to  God.  In  regard  to  government, 
what  the  personaUty  of  the  blood  corpuscle  is  to  my 
personality,  my  personality  is  to  God's.  Each  atom 
knows  enough  to  do  what  I  make  it  do.  Each  man  knows 
enough  to  do  what  God  makes  him  do.  Yet  each  atom 
in  the  nervx,  bone,  blood,  or  muscle,  is  free  to  follow 
the  laws  of  its  own  nature.  It  attracts  or  repels  just 
what  suits  its  purpose,  and  it  builds  or  destroys,  moves 
or  stops,  grows  or  decays,  in  accordance  with  its  own 
free  nature.  Though  I  can  control  it,  I  cannot  make  it 
untrue  to  itself,  because  its  true  self  is  its  Godhead. 
Its  life  is  the  life  of  God  who  inspires  all  things,  not 
only  men,  but  earth  and  rocks  and  trees  and  all  that  is. 
The  omnipresent  God  may  be  a  truly  personal  God  as 
St.  Paul  understood.  Theologians  are  oftentimes  led  to 
deny  God's  immanence  in  the  material,  through  their 
anxiety  to  assert  His  transcendence  of  it.    When  one 


I 


"ssa 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

denies  either,  he  falls  into  error.  God  is  both  immanent 
and  transcendent.  To  say  that  man  is  part  of  God, 
that  some  of  God  is  man,  is  not  to  say  that  God  and 
man  are  merged  in  each  other,  or  even  that  man  is 
actually  merged  in  God,  for,  evidently,  God  wishes  that 
portion  of  Himself  which  I  call  myself  to  be  regarded 
by  me  as  a  free  and  independent  personal  agent,  and 
therefore  I  rightly  look  upon  myself  as  such,  yet,  at 
the  same  time,  as  God  sees  me,  I  may  be  but  a  tiny 
atom  or  corpuscle  of  His  Infinite  being. 
Let  us  express  our  conclusions  categorically: 
(i)  Force  is  God.  The  unifying  and  integrating 
cause  at  work  moulding  nature  is  part  of  God,  or  a  mani- 
festation of  His  power. 

(2)  Energy  is  the  activity  of  the  Devil.  The  dis- 
integrating and  destroying  cause  at  work  separating 
atoms,  loosening  molecules,  and  repelHng  bodies  from 
each  other,  is  a  manifestation  of  God's  self- relaxation 
^hom  we  call  Satan. 

(3)  Inertia  is  not  a  property  of  matter  but  merely  a 
deadlock  between  God  and  Satan.  A  clod  of  earth  is 
inert.  If  God  chose  further  to  triumph  over  Satan  in 
it,  there  would  be  condensation  of  it.  If  Satan  could 
get  a  sufficient  reinforcement  in  the  shape  of  heat,  and 
so  gain  a  temporary  triumph  over  God,  it  would  expand 
and  disintegrate.  The  inertia  remains  in  the  clod  so 
long  as  neither  God  nor  Satan  triumphs  in  it. 

(4)  The  Devil,  though  an  actual  person,  is  not  a 
reality  but  only  a  temporary  and  voluntary  relaxation 
of  unifying  force.  God,  who  alone  really  is  in  the 
universe,  is  positive  and  absolute  unity.     Heat  and  light 

S 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

are  not  realities  but  merely  relaxations  of  cold  and 
darkness. 

(5)  Heaven  is  a  sphere,  probably  central,  from  which 
God  regulates  the  motions  of  all  the  ethereal  media,  neb- 
ulous matter,  suns,  planets,  and  moons  in  the  universe. 

(6)  The  history  of  the  universe  is  a  succession  of 
windings  and  unwindings.  We  are  in  an  age  of  winding 
or  condensation.  Our  era  began  when  the  whole  uni- 
verse was  distributed  throughout  space  in  an  imponder- 
able, invisible,  inaudible,  and  altogether  imperceptible 
ether,  which  nevertheless  contained  in  itself  potentially 
all  the  elements  or  atoms  we  know  on  the  earth. 
This  is  for  us  the  nearest  conceivable  approach  to 
nothingness.  It  is  for  man  actual  nothingness,  though 
for  God  it  is  everything  in  potentiality.  At  this  period 
God's  self-relaxation  has  reached  its  cKmax  of  triumph 
over  His  unifying  impulse.  He  now  begins  to  conquer 
His  self-relaxation.  The  impulse  to  relax  yet  exists  in 
every  atom  but  it  is  relatively  weaker  than  the  impulse 
to  condense.  The  result  is  that  a  nebulous  mass  forms 
at  the  centre.  It  condenses  into  a  sun,  thence  into  a 
planet,  thence  into  a  moon,  thence  into  a  substance  which 
cannot  be  definitely  described  by  us  because  we  have 
had  no  experience  of  it  in  nature  but  which  we  call  the 
absolutely  solid  oneness  or  universal  substance.  This 
is  Heaven.  But  in  the  meantime,  under  fixed  laws  and 
at  regular  intervals,  God  has  triumphed  over  His  self- 
relaxation  all  through  the  universe  and  formed  nebulous 
masses  and  suns  and  planets.  One  by  one  these  con- 
dense and  draw  nearer  the  centre.  Yet  self-relaxation 
makes  a  hard  struggle  and  the  process  is  exceedingly 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

slow.  Each  expansion  is  smaller  than  the  last,  and, 
when  all  the  matter  in  the  universe  is  a  perfect  solid, 
our  era  will  have  ended. 

(7)  The  theory  of  Evolution  can  best  be  understood 
by  supposing  that  the  planets  are  closely  related  to 
each  other  chronologically  and  causatively  in  the  order 
of  their  condensation,  and  that  we  once  lived  on  the 
moon  and  have  come  to  this  earth,  which  had  hitherto 
been  the  moon's  sun,  then  a  spherical  "lake  of  fire", 
and  that  we,  being  one  spirit,  chose  to  incarnate  ourselves 
in  our  earth's  fiery  elements,  there  to  evolve  into  amoebae, 
fishes,  reptiles,  quadrupeds,  and  men.     It  was  a  fall 
from  a  state  of  limited  purity  into  another  world  of  sm; 
but  we  should  emerge  from  that  conflict  with  higher 
beauty,  goodness,  and  truth;  some  of  us  should  get  from 
the  earth,  through  Christ,  directly  to  the  center,  and  the 
rest,  united  in  one  spirit,  should  in  turn  go  to  our  sun 
and,  though  there  condemned  to  an  evolutionary  process 
involving  perpetual  pain,  should  attain  one  step  nearer 
Heaven.    It  was  the  yearning  for  higher  knowledge  that 
God  used  in  that  one  spirit  to  fulfil  His  judgment  upon 
him,  that  he  (for  this  spirit  is  the  person  who  is  alle- 
gorically  presented  to  us  in  God's  Word  as  Adam) 
should  leave  a  home  of  deathless  purity  in  the    moon 
and  choose  to  incarnate  Himself  in  our  earth  so  that 
out  of  the  continued  struggle  there  he  might  get  nearer 
God.    It  was  the  yearning  of  a  part  of  God  to  get  back 
to  the  centre  of  His  personaUty.    The  stor>^  of  Adam 
and  Eve  as  given  in  the  Bible  may  have  been  intended 
by  God  to  present  to  the  unfolding  mind  of  man  the 
truth  that  originally  his  state  had  been  one  of  purity 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

and  goodness  but  that  through  his  desire  for  \vider 
knowledge  he  had  chosen  to  fall  from  his  high  position. 
Like  a  great  part  of  the  Bible  its  full  meaning  was 
probably  beyond  the  grasp  of  the  person  inspired  to 
write  it.  There  is  always  an  underlying  element  of 
Divine,  unifying,  and  connected  truth,  running  through- 
out the  books  included  in  the  canon,  which,  notwith- 
standing its  inward  infallibility,  is  overlaid  by  a  mass  of 
human  misconceptions.  Objectively,  the  revelation,  by 
virtue  of  its  internal  infallibility,  is  a  perfect  one.  Sub- 
jectively, there  will  be  a  growth  of  power  in  the  Catholic 
or  Universal  Church  to  separate  the  eternal  underlying 
truth  from  the  temporal  and  fallible  human  channel 
which  conveyed  it.  It  will  be  only  when  we  have 
reached  Heaven,  and  read  the  plan  of  salvation  back- 
ward, that  the  Bible  will  be  a  perfect  subjective  revela- 
tion. Whether  written  by  Moses,  or  by  Ezra,  or  by  some 
contemporary  of  the  latter  after  the  return  from  exile: 
whether  suggested  directly  to  the  mind  of  the  writer, 
or  discovered  in  some  ancient  Hebrew  document,  or  de- 
rived from  a  Babylonian  myth,  this  story  of  Adam  stands 
at  the  beginning  of  the  book  which  for  many  centuries 
has  claimed  to  be  a  revelation  of  the  creation,  redemp- 
tion, and  destiny  of  man,  and  which  to-day  is  more 
studied  and  believed  than  when  it  was  first  compiled. 
To  one  who  is  assured  that  nothing  happens  by  chance 
this  must  appear  a  truth  of  eternal  cosmic  significance, 
pre-established  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  this 
tradition  of  a  fall  from  a  state  of  purity,  this  theory  of 
a  gradual  elevation  and  restoration  to  a  higher  per- 
fection.    It  is  in  harmonv  with  observed  facts  in  our 


10 


II 


r 


N' 


)■■•  I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

human  experience.  It  accounts  for  the  presence  of 
ideals  of  beauty,  goodness,  and  truth,  which  never 
leave  men  in  peace  so  long  as  they  dwell  in  ugliness, 
wickedness,  or  ignorance.  It  explains  our  constant 
dissatisfaction  with  the  imperfect  present,  our  longings 
for  loveUness,  purity,  and  wisdom.  Since  the  time  of 
Plato  men  have  possessed,  more  or  less  clearly,  the 
belief  in  a  former  existence  of  the  soul.  To  assert  that 
our  Ufe  hereafter  is  eternal,  but  that  it  began  with  our 
birth,  is  to  predicate  eternity  with  one  end.  Men  ex- 
perience certain  transient  flashes,  or  intuitions  of  the 
human  mind,  which  seem  to  be  recollections  of  our 
former  state.  The  most  familiar  of  these  is  the  feeling 
one  has  of  having  seen  before  a  landscape,  a  book,  a 
person,  and  of  noticing  that  the  next  two  or  three 
thoughts,  or  incidents,  fit  into  the  fleeting  recollection 
of  a  previous  scene.  No  satisfactory  psychological  solu- 
tion of  this  problem  can  be  given,  although  it  has  been 
sought  in  such  a  phenomenon  as  that  of  the  successive 
action  of  the  two  hemispheres  of  the  brain,  the  explana- 
tion being  that  when  the  slower  half  of  the  brain  per- 
ceives the  picture,  the  mind  recollects  the  impression  on 
the  quicker  hemisphere  and  mistakes  the  brief  interval 
between  them  for  the  lapse  of  an  indefinite  time.  But  we 
have  the  same  feeling  sometimes  in  the  case  of  words 
that  we  hear  spoken,  and  even  of  thoughts  that  arise 
from  internal  suggestion.  Therefore  we  are  obliged 
to  fall  back  upon  the  reahty  of  our  pre-existence.  That 
alone  satisfactorily  accounts  for  intuitive  ideas,  and 
for  the  inner  motives  and  underlying  realities  of  which 
the  outward  acts  of  individuals  or  the  histories  of  nations 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

are  but  the  external  and  mechanical  manifestations. 
If,  from  all  of  these  independent  trains  of  thought,  we 
accept  the  inference,  not  capable  of  logical  proof,  that 
we  have  lived  somewhere  previous  to  our  present  life  on 
the  earth,  have  we  anything  to  indicate  the  probable 
whereabouts  of  our  former  abode  ?   It  may,  of  course, 
have  been  in  the  souls  of  our  ancestors,  or  a  previous 
incarnation,  but  water  cannot  rise  above  its  level,  and 
we  find  ourselves  with  ideals  that  are  higher  than  any 
our  ancestors  could  have  had,  inasmuch  as  the  race  has 
been  ascending  in  beauty,  goodness,  and  truth  from  the 
beginning  and  still  continues  its  progress.    Our  previous 
life  may  have  been  on  some  of  the  other  planets,  but 
none  of  these  seems  to  have  any  direct  connection  with, 
or  relation  to,  our  earth.     There  are  the  far-distant 
solar  systems,  but  we  cannot  perceive  that  we  have  any 
immediate  connection  with  them.     On  the  other  hand, 
we  perceive  a  relationship,  as  it  were  in  a  straight  line, 
direct  and  somewhat  intelligible,  between  our  moon  and 
the  earth,  and  our  earth  and  the  sun.    If  we  believe 
that  we  have  once  Hved  on  any  of  the  visible  heavenly 
bodies,  and  that  after  this  life  we  will  go  to  live  on 
another  of  them,  the  great  weight  of  inference  will  be  in 
favor  of  the  moon  and  the  sun,  between  which  our  earth 
is  a  sort  of  intermediary.   It  is  true  we  must  have  lived 
originally  on  the  central  sphere  whence  everything  that 
is  has  expanded,  but  that  must  have  been  many  stages 
before  our  life  here,  else  probably  we  would  have  remem- 
bered more  of  it,  being,  upon  that  hypothesis,  only  one 
remove  from  infinite  knowledge.    Herein  is  the  great 
difference  between  the  Christ  and  other  men.  The  ques- 


12 


13 


f^ 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

tion  then  arises,    Which  way  are  we  probably  going  ? 
May  we  not  have  come  from  the  sun  and  be  on  our  way 
to  the  moon  ?    We  reply  that  this  view  is  opposed  by 
what  we  know  of  the  sun  and  moon  and  of  the  nature  of 
things  on  the  earth.     On  our  planet  we  find  that  prog- 
ress means  condensation;  that  integration  is  the  secret 
of  evolution.  We  know  that  the  earth  is  growing  colder 
year  by  year;  and  though  the  short  period  of  human 
history  and  tradition  is  not  sufficient  to  give  us  a  ver>' 
clear  idea  of  the  rate  of  progress,  as  it  is  so  tiny  a  fraction 
of  even  our  planet's  life,  yet  the  variations  we  perceive 
within  our  Uttle  period  of  consciousness  are  enough  to 
establish  the  gradual  triumph  of  unity.    Let  us  turn  now 
to  the  moon.    The  moon  is  a  worn-out  world  whereas  the 
sun  is  a  new  one.     The  moon  represents  the  victory  of 
darkness  over  light,  of  cold  over  heat,  of  contraction  over 
expansion,  of  force  over  energy,  of  God  over  the  Devil. 
We  see  on  her  frozen  surface  mountains  and  valleys, 
extinct  volcanoes,  silent  and  dark.    We  have  no  right 
to  infer  that  the  moon  has  ceased  to  grow  cold.    We 
know  very  little  of  what  cold  really  is.    AVhen  matter 
becomes  heated  beyond  a  certain  point  it  may  pass 
out  of  all  forms  recognizable  by  man,  and  when  it  be- 
comes frozen  below  a  certain  point  may  its  constitution 
not  become  such  that  it  would  require  beings  endowed 
differently  from  us  to  perceive  it  at  all  ?    The  moon  may 
get  colder  and  colder  until  it  will  not  even  reflect  the 
rays  of  the  sun,  which   may  have  been  the  fate  of  all 
the  moon's  moons,  if  there  were  any.    On  our  moon  we 
see  the  end  of  the  process  that  is  now  taking  place  on 
our  earth.    We  know  that  human  beings  like  ourselves 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

could  not  hve  on  such  a  cold  sphere.  If  we  beheve  that 
at  one  time  it  has  been  warmer  and  inhabited,  should 
we  beheve  that  its  inhabitants  were  entirely  annihilated  ? 
Is  it  not  more  in  harmony  with  science  to  believe  that 
as  life  is  an  entity,  and  that  as  anything  that  is  cannot 
be  destroyed,  so  Hfe  may  be  changed  but  cannot  be 
destroyed,  and  therefore  that  those  who  lived  on  the 
moon  when  it  was  warmer  must  have  gone,  or  been 
transferred,  from  the  moon  to  some  other  heavenly 
body?  And  which  of  these  bodies  would  be  so  avail- 
able as  our  earth,  which  even  now  attracts  the  moon  to 
itself  with  all  that  is  in  or  on  it  ?  What  supposition  is 
more  natural,  a  priori^  therefore,  than  that,  if  our  life 
has  come  from  any  Heavenly  body,  the  moon  is  that 
body? 

(8)  According  to  the  theory  of  the  triumph  of  unity 
or  condensation,  the  next  abode  of  some  of  the  earth's 
inhabitants  should  be  the  sun.  We  recognize  that  the 
moon  is  kept  in  its  place  by  the  exact  adjustment  of 
energy  and  force,  the  one  tending  to  throw  it  off  into 
space  and  the  other  to  draw  it  to  the  earth.  We  see 
further  that  our  planet  is  kept  in  its  orbit  by  the  dead- 
lock of  the  same  two  enemies,  one  of  which  would  draw 
it  to  the  sun.  But  who  raises  the  question  as  to  what 
keeps  the  sun  in  its  place?  If  it  appeared  to  be  the 
center  of  the  universe,  we  might  understand  that  it 
could  be  kept  still  by  the  tension  of  all  parts  of  the  uni- 
versal sphere  towards  itself.  We  know,  however,  that 
it  is  only  one  amongst  myriads  of  larger  suns,  and  that 
therefore  it  appears  dependent  upon  the  attraction  of 
some  other  body  or  bodies  for  its  fixity  of  position.    The 


14 


15 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


» 


sun  may  not  at  present  be  circulating  around  its  regulat- 
ing sun;  but,  if  this  be  true,  we  should  expect  it  to  do  so  at 
some  future  time.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  our  whole 
solar  system  has  been  declared  by  astronomers  to  be 
moving  toward  a  point  in  the  milky  way.  By  the  pro- 
cess of  condensation,  when  the  sun  has  cooled  down 
into  a  planet,  and  our  earth  and  our  planets  have  become 
shrivelled  into  little  moons,  and  the  moons  have  become 
frozen  and  contracted  beyond  recognition,  then  the  sun 
will  probably  have  been  drawn  so  near  to  its  immediate 
regulator  as  to  be  obhged  to  move  around  it,  if  it  is 
not  doing  so  already.  Let  us  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  it  is  by  the  gradual  triumph  of  God  over  Satan  that 
this  will  be  accompHshed.  The  centrifugal  energy  is 
Satan.  The  centripetal  force  is  God.  The  reader  may 
think  we  have  proceeded  too  quickly.  "How  do  you 
know",  he  may  ask,  "that  our  sun  is  condensing  into 
a  planet  ?  "    To  this  we  reply  : 

(a)  We  behold  nebulous  masses,  which,  the  spectrum 
shows  us,  are  composed  of  many  of  the  same  elements 
that  now  make  up  our  earth. 

(b)  By  the  laws  of  chemical  afi&nity,  molecular  co- 
hesion, and  gravitation,  the  atoms  in  these  nebulous 
clouds  would  be  likely  to  combine  into  molecules,  the 
molecules  to  cohere  in  bodies,  or  patches,  and  the  bodies 
to  gravitate  towards  each  other. 

(c)  Hence  there  would  be  motion  towards  the  centre 
of  the  nebulous  mass. 

(d)  At  the  centre  where  these  motions  would  end,  an 
amoimt  of  heat  would  be  generated  that  would  exactly 
correspond  to  the  amount  of  motion  destroyed  there. 


i6 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

(e)  By  an  argument  a  priori^  therefore,  we  would  ex- 
pect to  find  a  fiery  central  mass  with  a  cold  atmosphere 
pressing  towards  its  centre,  and  containing  the  same 
atoms  with  which  we  are  already  familiar. 

(/)  Our  latest  discoveries  by  photography  of  the  sun 
and  spectrum  analysis  have  plainly  verified  our  ^  priori 
conclusions.  It  is  now  clear  that  the  rice-grained  ap- 
pearance of  the  sun  is  due  to  the  flaming  points  of  burn- 
ing hydrogen  bursting  out  from  the  centre  of  the  fiery 
mass,  and  that  the  sun  spots  are  immense  funnel-shaped 
openings  leading  in  towards  the  centre  of  the  sun  and 
caused  by  the  rushing  down  of  the  cold  atmosphere;  and, 
although  we  have  not  yet  discovered  all  of  our  atoms 
or  elements  in  the  sun,  we  have  found  so  many  that  we 
can  fairly  infer  the  presence  of  the  others. 

(g)  As  a  final  proof,  we  see  in  our  solar  system  some 
bodies  which  are  in  the  transitional  period  between  the 
sun  state  and  the  planet  state,  and  they  are  those 
that  appear  to  be  surrounded  by  the  largest  number 
of  moons  or  bodies  which  are  half  planet  and  half  moon. 
Jupiter,  whose  bulk  is  1400  times  that  of  the  earth,  has 
so  small  a  density  that  its  mass  is  only  338  times 
greater  than  that  of  the  earth,  and  it  exhibits  phenom- 
ena of  belts,  and  has  four  moons.  Saturn,  whose  bulk 
is  735  times  greater  than  the  earth  and  only  100  times 
greater  in  mass,  exhibits  the  phenomena  of  belts  and 
also  of  concentric  rings,  and  has  eight  moons.  Can- 
not the  significance  of  this  be  easily  seen?  Saturn 
appears  more  sun  than  planet;  Jupiter  half  sun  and  half 
planet;  our  earth  a  planet  with  one  moon  left;  Mercury, 
Venus,  and  Mars  planets  that  have  lost  all  or  some  of 


17 


* 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


11 


their  moons.  The  planetoids  or  asteroids  which  have 
been  discovered  within  the  last  century  may  be  the 
lost  moons  of  these  planets. 

(9)  According  to  this  centralization  theory  of  creation, 
Heaven,  our  final  home,  must  be  an  absolutely  cold, 
dark,  and  magnetic  sphere  which  attracts  everything 
that  is  to  itself.  The  darkness  and  coldness  of  Heaven 
are,  of  course,  opposed  to  the  popular  conception 
thereof,  and  also  to  what  has  hitherto  been  the  opinion 
of  scientists.  Scholars,  however,  must  soon  learn  that 
cold,  darkness,  and  magnetic  attraction  are  attributes 
of  reality  and  that  light,  heat,  and  electrical  repulsion 
are  merely  negative  motions. 

It  will  be  hard  to  convince  the  many  that  material 
light  is  a  principle  of  evil,  because  all  through  the  ages 
it  has  been  held  to  be  a  distinctive  attribute  of  the  good 
and  creative  force.  It  was  so  regarded  by  the  specula- 
tive cosmogonies  and  theosophies  of  Oriental  nations; 
and  even  the  language  of  Holy  Writ  is  tinctured  with 
the  conception  that  light  is  pre-eminently  the  attribute 
of  God,  and  darkness  that  of  the  Devil.  Reflection  may 
perhaps  show  us,  nevertheless,  that  the  popular  con- 
ception is  as  false  as  was  the  supposed  flatness  of  the 
earth,  and  that,  as  in  the  latter  case  so  in  the  former,  the 
language  of  the  Scriptures  must  be  regarded  as  spoken 
to  men  in  popular  and  understandable  form  rather 
than  in  that  which  is  scientific  and  accurate.  With  regard 
to  heat  there  will  not  be  so  great  difficulty,  though 
scientifically,  light  and  heat  are  supposed  to  be  the  same 
thing,  namely,  undulations  of  greater  or  less  length, 
tension,  or  frequency.     Yet  the  public  has  been  so 


18 


accustomed  to  think  of  Hell  as  a  place  of  everlasting 
burning  that  it  will  be  rather  predisposed  to  predicate 
heat  as  an  attribute  of  the  DeviPs  working,  though  very 
loath  to  admit  the  same  thing  of  light.  Yet  light  is  ex- 
tremely painful  imder  certain  circumstances.  Some 
barbarous  nations,  as  a  means  of  torture,  cut  off  the 
eyelids  of  victims.  Invalids  who  suffer  from  insomnia 
find  light  distressing  and  require  their  windows  dark- 
ened in  the  daytime.  One  cannot  sleep  soundly  in  a 
lighted  room.  There  is  something  in  the  nature  of 
light  that  causes  unrest,  motion,  struggle. 

Darkness  alone  is  fully  adapted  to  rest.  It  is  in  keep- 
ing with  this  thought  that  Heaven,  being  a  place  of  ab- 
solute and  blissful,  though  not,  of  course,  unconscious, 
repose,  should  have  in  it  no  such  thing  as  material  light. 
Being  a  condition  necessary  to  human  vision  and 
the  perception  of  external  objects  and  consequently 
necessary  for  the  acquisition  of  a  great  part  of  our  knowl- 
edge, light  has  come  to  be  used  as  synonymous  with 
knowledge.  But  a  condition  necessary  to  the  existence 
of  a  thing  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  thing  itself 
nor  always  regarded  as  the  cause  of  it.  The  light  is  not 
knowledge  any  more  than  the  eye  itself  is  knowledge,  nor 
is  it  the  cause  of  knowledge.  All  that  the  light  does 
is  to  enable  certain  disconnected,  incoherent,  and  dis- 
integrating impressions  to  fall  upon  the  retina.  It  is 
the  xmderstanding,  or  the  innate  unifying  and  discrim- 
inating function  supplied  by  the  mind  itself,  that 
seizes  these  isolated  sense  impressions  and  unites  them 
into  a  concept,  or  intelligible  notion,  of  an  object.  In 
other  words  light  is  an  element  necessary  to  the  per- 


19 


I 


i( 


I 


v| 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

ception  of  a  visible  object  just  as  a  knowledge  of  evil  is 
necessary  to  the  perception  of  good,  but  the  knowledge 
of  evil  is  not  therefore  the  cause  of  the  perception  of 
good,  nor,  above  all,  should  it  be  looked  upon  as  itself 
good.  Neither  should  light  be  considered  a  cause  of 
knowledge  or  confused  with  knowledge  itself.  Light 
is  a  form  of  motion  necessary  to  the  perception  of  a 
visible  object,  but  it  gives  man  only  a  chaotic  assem- 
blage of  unintelligible,  isolated  impressions  that  would 
but  serve  to  make  perception  impossible,  did  not  the 
integrating  God  overrule  this  anarchy  and  make  orderly 
conceptions  and  knowledge  out  of  it.  It  is  easy  to 
imagine  higher  forms  of  existence  in  which  our  knowl- 
edge will  not  be  conditioned  by  sense  perceptions  at 
all  or,  if  so,  will  be  not  limited  to  the  perception  of  ob- 
jects by  these  poor  eyes  of  ours,  which  require  physical 
light  to  see  but  which  do  not  at  best  see  things  as  they 
are,  for  when  we  supplement  their  power  by  telescopes 
and  microscopes  we  see  wider  and  deeper  into  the  con- 
stitution of  things.  Can  we  imagine  our  state  of  in- 
finite knowledge  in  Heaven  Hmited  and  hampered  by 
our  present  weak  and  imperfect  organs  of  vision  ?  Shall 
we  have  the  same  false  powers  of  perception,  or  shall 
we  not  have  faculties  that  see  things  as  they  are?  If 
then  we  are  not  to  be  hampered  with  our  present  limited 
and  untrustworthy  vision  when  we  reach  Heaven,  why 
should  we  there  need  material  light,  which  is  necessary 
only  for  those  imperfect  powers  ?  Material  light  should 
not  be  confounded  with  spiritual  illumination. 

Serious  doubts  may  arise  in  the  minds  of  many  from 
the  numerous  and  direct  references  in  the  Scriptures, 


20 


ii' 


I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


especially  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  to  Christ  as  the 
"Light  of  the  World",  and  it  requires  a  violent  wrench 
from  the  ordinary  conception  to  accept  our  hypothesis. 
How  can  we  reconcile  it,  for  example,  to  such  a  state- 
ment as  "In  Him  was  light  and  the  light  was  the  life  of 
men."  To  this  we  reply  that  at  the  time  these  words 
were  written  and,  indeed,  up  till  the  present,  light  was 
regarded  as  a  cause  of  fertility,  growth,  and  vitality  in 
the  organic  world.  It  is  easy  to  account  for  such  an 
idea.  Plants  will  not  grow  without  light.  Therefore 
it  is  an  obvious,  but  not  necessarily  a  correct,  inference 
that  the  light  causes  the  plant  to  grow.  Again,  since 
light  is  a  necessary  condition  of  all  visual  per- 
ception, one  is  inclined  to  affirm  that  light  is  a 
source  of  knowledge.  These  ideas  have  become  so 
associated  in  our  minds  that  we  can  hardly  express  the 
imparting  of  knowledge  without  employing  the  figure 
of  enlightening  or  illuminating.  Throughout  the 
Bible,  and  in  our  Lord's  own  discourses,  words  are  used 
in  their  simple  popular  sense,  to  convey  ideas  which 
can  be  imderstood  by  the  people  to  whom  they  were 
written  or  spoken.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  St.  John 
speaks  of  Christ  as  the  light  of  the  world.  He  was  the 
source  of  truth  and  the  cause  of  all  spiritual  vitality. 

As  to  the  question.  Would  God  in  His  revelation  al- 
low us  to  remain  under  an  impression  exactly  the  op- 
posite of  the  truth,  namely  that  light  was  an  attribute 
of  His  own  working  in  nature  while  it  was  really  that  of 
the  DeviPs?  We  would  reply,  God  has  never  de- 
ceiyedjman  in  any  way,  but  for  His  own  good  reasons  He 
has  allowed  the  Devil  to  do  so  in  many  ways.    All  igno- 


I 


i 


ai 


I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

ranee  is  the  work  of  the  Devil,  and  God  is  only  overcoming 
it  by  a  gradual  process  of  inspiration.  He  is  reveahng  His 
truth  by  degrees.  The  Devil  tries  to  deceive  to  the  ut- 
most, that  is,  wherever  he  can  he  endeavors  to  make  us 
beUeve  the  very  opposite  of  the  truth.  God,  for  exam- 
ple, never  told  man  that  the  earth  is  flat.  It  was  the 
Devil  who  did  that,  and  it  was  only  after  many  years  of 
struggle  with  Satan  that  God  was  able  to  let  man  un- 
derstand that  the  earth  is  round.  Here  we  see  the 
Devil  making  us  beheve  the  exact  opposite  of  the  truth, 
that  the  sun  moves  around  the  earth,  whereas  the  earth 
moves  around  the  sun.  It  is  in  accordance  with  this 
that  he  should,  for  so  long,  have  made  us  beheve  that 
Hght  and  heat,  which  are  really  disintegrating  and 
destroying  mfluences,  and  which  never,  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, created  anythmg,  are  in  themselves  benefi- 
cent and  preserving  principles. 

When  Kepler  presented  his  defence  of  the  Copermcan 
theory  to  the  academic  senate  of  Tubingen,  the  divines 
were  of  opinion  that  it  contained  a  deadly  heresy,  because 
it  contradicted  the  teaching  of  the  Bible  in  that  passage 
where  Joshua  commands  the  sun  to  stand  still,  lo 
which  Kepler  rephed  that  as  the  Bible  addressed  itself  to 
raankmd  in  general  it  spoke  of  things  in  the  life  of  men 
as  men  in  general  are  accustomed  to  speak  of  them. 
This  must  be  our  reply  to  those  who  object  that  hght  is 
spoken  of  as  the  good  principle  in  the  Bible  and  darkness 
as  the  evil.  It  is  so  expressed  in  concession  to  the 
popular  misconception  that  light  is  able  to  impart  life  and 
growth  to  plant  organisms,  joined  with  the  practical  ob- 
servation that  darkness  acts  as  a  cover  to  hide  evil  deeds 


3S 


I'! 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

and  that  dayhght  makes  the  evil  manifest.  This  last  fact 
only  shows  that  evil  may  serve  a  good  purpose;  but  good 
remains  good  and  evil  remains  evil  for  all  that.  A  man 
might  find  it  necessary  to  tear  down  a  small  house  on  a 
valuable  piece  of  land  in  a  crowded  city  in  order  to  con- 
struct thereon  a  larger  and  better  residence.  In  that 
case  the  work  of  destruction  would  be  for  a  good  purpose 
and  would  result  in  a  higher  construction;  but  the  act 
of  tearing  down  the  old  house  would  be,  though  justified 
by  the  end  in  view,  a  destructive  act,  and  nothing  but 
a  destructive  act.  What  a  singular  misconception  it 
would  be  if  one  should  think  that,  because  the  end 
justified  the  means,  the  act  of  tearing  down  the  first 
building  was  in  reahty  an  act  of  construction!  Yet 
this  is  precisely  the  mistake  under  which  those  persons 
labor  that  regard  the  action  of  light  in  plant  growth  as  a 
vitalizing  and  constructive  influence.  All  that  the 
light  does  is  to  disintegrate  the  particles  of  the  plant  and 
set  them  in  motion.  The  result  would  be  utterly  de- 
structive of  the  organism,  did  not  God,  manifesting  Him- 
self as  the  worker  of  chemical  affinity  and  molecular  co- 
hesion, overrule  the  disintegration  caused  by  light  and 
heat  and  therefrom  construct  a  larger  plant  organism. 
Throughout,  the  action  of  light  and  heat  has  been 
destructive.  Of  course,  the  growth  could  not  have 
taken  place  without  it.  So  likewise  moral  growth  can- 
not take  place  without  temptation,  or  temptation  without 
sin;  and  the  existence  of  evil  is  thus  necessary  to  moral 
advancement;  but  no  one  would  be  justified  therefore  in 
mistaking  the  evil  for  the  good.  Evil  remains  evil 
even  when  it  is   overruled  by  God  for  a  good  end.     It 


23 


i»  ! 


J 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


is  the  work  of  the  Devil  and  not  of  God,  except  that 
God  in  the  beginning,  for  His  own  wise  purposes,  al- 
lowed the  Devil  to  exist  and  to  bring  evil  upon  the  uni- 
verse. The  only  answer  to  the  question  as  to  why  God 
allowed  the  Devil  to  exist  must  be  found  in  the  hope 
that  when  the  Devil  is  finally  conquered,  and  the  universe 
completely  condensed,  and  love  finally  triumphant,  the 
joy  will  be  greater  than  it  would  have  been  if  there  had 
been  no  struggle ;  and  that  the  excess  of  happiness  then 
will  more  than  counterbalance  the  temporary  pain  we 
have  now.  While  we  may  not  say  that  whatever  is  now  is 
best,  we  shall  ultimately  see  that  whatever  has  been  has 
been  for  the  best,  though  we  may  not  know  this  till  the 
whole  plan  is  sur\^eyed  backward  from  Heaven.  Of  course 
the  terms  "good"  and  "evil"  as  appUed  to  the  moral 
conduct  of  man  are  much  fuller  of  meaning  than  when 
used  of  the  operations  of  the  physical  world,  but  the 
principle  is  identical  in  each.  It  is  the  same  designing, 
conscious,  evil  spirit  who  destroys  matter  by  light,  heat, 
and  electrical  repulsion,  or  centrifugal  energy,  who  in 
men  tries  to  mar  all  beauty,  to  seduce  all  virtue,  and  to 
hamper  all  knowledge. 

One  cannot  say,  for  instance,  that  it  is  morally  wrong 
for  a  man  to  light  a  candle ;  but  what  we  say  is  that  when 
he  does  so,  he  calls  into  existence  two  destructive  and 
dangerous  motions,  light  and  heat;  and  he  is  only  justi- 
fied in  doing  so  when  he  is  prepared  to  hold  them  in 
check  and  to  make  them  serve  some  good  purpose.  It 
would  be  wrong  to  light  a  candle  and  leave  it  so  near  a 
magazine  of  powder  as  to  disintegrate  the  latter  and  de- 
stroy life  and  property.     Man  instinctively  acknowledges 


that  light  and  heat  are  dangerous  disintegrating  motions, 
when  he  confines  his  fires  to  stoves  and  fireplaces  to 
keep  their  destructive  properties  in  check.  When  prop- 
erly guarded  they  serve  many  good  purposes,  but  they 
themselves  are  essentially  evil  and  destructive.  Even 
the  gentle  sunbeam,  which  causes  pleasure  to  the  human 
eye  and  agreeable  sensations  in  a  man's  body,  will  ruin 
the  vegetables  in  his  cellar.  At  the  same  time  that  God 
holds  the  Hght  of  the  sun  sufficiently  in  check  to  make  it 
serve  some  good  purposes  on  the  earth,  in  so  far  as  it 
acts  at  all  it  is  always  a  disintegrator.  Every  house- 
wife knows  that  she  must  keep  her  storeroom  dark  and 
cool  in  order  to  preserve  her  vegetable  supplies  from 
fermentation  and  rottenness.  It  may  be  said  that  great 
cold  is  destructive ;  that,  for  instance,  it  as  surely  destroys 
certain  things  to  have  them  frozen  as  to  expose  them  to 
light  and  heat.  But  this  is  not  the  case.  So  long  as 
any  vegetable  or  animal  substance  is  frozen  it  is  not 
destroyed.  It  will  keep  indefinitely.  But  let  heat 
approach  it,  and  disintegration  sets  in  at  once.  In  the 
process  of  freezing  one's  body,  the  pain  is  caused  by  the 
conflict  with  heat.  When  heat  is  conquered  and  the 
face  is  frozen,  there  is  no  pain.  It  is  only  when  heat  is 
applied  that  the  pain  begins.  Freezing  may  cause 
our  Hfe  to  depart  elsewhere,  for  our  souls  now  need 
bodies  which  contain  heat;  but  they  may  be  other- 
wise constituted  some  day;  and  cold  is  never  a 
disintegrating  process,  though  it  may  give  rise  to 
disintegration,  just  as  evil  may  follow  from  the 
excess  of  any  good.  It  may  seem  fanciful  to  use 
the  terms  "good"  or  "evil"  in  speaking   of  merely 


24 


25 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

physical  actions,  nevertheless  the  principle  cannot  be 

gainsayed. 

The  action  of  gravitation,  like  darkness  and  cold,  is 
always  beneficent  and  preservative,  though  the  Devil 
may  bring  evil  results  out  of  it  also,  as  where  people 
fall  from  heights  and  are  killed.  Yet  the  same  law, 
which  would  be  so  misused  by  the  Devil,  is  that  with- 
out which  we  would  all  be  hurled  into  space.  Good 
springs  from  evil,  and  evil  from  good ;  but  the  two  are  al- 
ways antagonistic.  The  Devil  uses  every  integration 
as  a  stepping  stone  to  a  wider  disintegration;  and  God 
uses  every  act  of  destruction  as  material  for  a  higher 
reconstruction.  But  no  matter  how  closely  good  and 
evil  are  related  as  cause  and  effect,  they  are  always  dis- 
tinct from  each  other.  Evil  is  nothing  but  evil  though 
good  should  spring  from  it;  and  we  must  never  confound 
the  evil  with  the  good.  Light  and  heat  are  always  the 
work  of  the  Devil  even  though  God,  by  holding  them  in 
check,  brings  good  out  of  their  destructive  action. 

The  amount  of  light  and  heat  upon  the  earth  from 
the  sun  will  depend  not  only  on  the  amount  of  each 
generated  in  the  sun,  but  also  upon  the  distance  of  the 
earth  from  the  sun.  Throughout  all  parts  of  the 
struggle  between  the  Integrator  and  the  Disintegrator 
there  must  be  uniformity  in  the  rate  of  God's  triumph. 
If,  for  example,  God,  as  the  centripetal  or  magnetic  at- 
tractive force,  were  to  gain  too  great  an  advantage  over 
the  centrifugal  or  electrical  repulsive  energy,  our  earth 
would  be  drawn  much  nearer  the  sun  than  it  is  at 
present.  We  should  therefore  be  burned,  unless  the  sun 
had  grown  correspondingly  cool.     If  the  rate  at  which 

20 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

the  sun  cools  should  correspond  to  the  rate  at  which  the 
^ntripetal  force  conquers  the  centrifugal  energy, 
the  temperature  on  the  earth  might  remain  the  same  as 
It  is  now,  even  if  we  were  drawn  as  near  to  the  sun  as  the 
moon  is  now  to  the  earth.  If  the  centripetal  force  which 
draws  us  to  the  sun  conquered  too  quickly,  we  should  be 
burned.  If  the  condensation  of  the  sun  took  place  too 
ouickly,  we  should  be  frozen;  but  God,  who,  by  His 
ereat  love,  cares  for  each  atom  throughout  the  whole 
expanse  of  the  universe,  triumphs  over  Satan  graduaUy 
in  all  parts  together,  and  with  sympathetic  symmetry. 


27 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  EXPLANATORY 
OF  THE  INCARNATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST. 

It  is  to  be  expected  in  an  age  of  observation  and 
scientific  experiment,  when  men  have  discovered  the 
fruitfulness  of  inductive  methods,  that  natural  laws, 
many  of  which  assuredly  throw  light  on  the  unexplained 
phenomena  of  life,  should  be  regarded  with  an  exaggerated 
importance  that  is  truly  marvellous  to  those  standing 
far  enough  away  from  the  scientific  turmoil  to  view  the 
whole  position.  We  should  strive  after  a  rational  and 
comprehensive  judgment  that  coolly  accords  to  each 
incident  in  the  scene  its  due  value  and  nothing  more. 
The  empirical  scientists  of  the  present  day  are  down 
in  the  midst  of  natural  phenomena.  They  are  sur- 
rounded on  all  sides  by  material  and  secondary  causes. 
They  deal  with  what  they  can  see  and  handle.  The 
enormous  mass  of  facts,  experiments,  technical  terms, 
and  limited  generalizations  prevents  their  breadth  of 
vision.  They  cannot  view  the  whole  question  in  its 
relation  to  primary  and  efficient  causes.  Because  a 
"law  of  nature",  or  uniformity  in  observed  processes, 
may  be  for  them  the  object  of  their  search,  they  are  apt 
to  think  that  such  a  law  is  a  final  or  ultimate  principle 
and  that  it  explains  fully  the  facts  about  which  they  are 
reasoning.  They  find  it  hard  to  see  that  these  laws  are 
merely  the  most  frequent  modes  of  the  working  of  a  de- 


38 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

signing  power.  That  same  power  may,  on  exceptional 
occasions,  work  by  different  laws;  but  the  tendency  is  to 
overlook  this.  Hence  men  are  apt  to  infer,  because  the 
conception  of  a  human  being  in  most  known  cases  oc- 
curs upon  the  fertilization  of  the  ovum  by  the  spermato- 
zoa of  a  male,  that  it  could  not  occur  otherwise.  It  is 
absurd  and  presumptuous,  however,  to  affirm,  merely 
because  we  have  found  this  to  be  necessary  in  those 
cases  which  have  come  under  our  notice,  that  no  con- 
ception could  occur  without  male  fertilization.  Be- 
cause the  sun  has  risen  every  day  within  the  memory  of 
man,  we  may  infer  that  it  will  rise  tomorrow.  There 
is  an  extremely  strong  probability  that  it  will  do  so; 
but  no  one  will  argue  that  because  it  has  risen  every 
day  it  must  rise  again  tomorrow.  The  reasoning  is 
precisely  the  same  with  those  who  say  that  spiritual 
conception  is  impossible.  It  is  improbable,  viewed  an- 
tecedently, we  admit,  that  a  human  being  could  come 
into  the  world  without  the  instrumentality  of  a  material 
father,  yet  it  is  just  as  clearly  possible  as  that  the  sun 
may  not  rise  tomorrow. 

We  admit  the  antecedent  improbability  of  the  con- 
ception of  a  human  being  without  male  co-operation  of 
a  material  character,  yet  if  we  can  show  that  the  whole 
life  of  Jesus  was  unique,  then  the  a  priori  improbability 
will  be  reversed.  The  historical  position  of  the  Naz- 
arene  is,  we  assert,  one  without  parallel.  Mahomet  and 
Gautama  were  sent  by  God  to  found  great  systems  of 
religion.  They  have  fulfilled  a  great  part  of  God's  plan 
in  human  growth,  but  would  anyone  argue  (i)  that 
either  of  these  systems,  if  universally  adopted,  would 


29 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

produce  an  ideal  state,  one  worthy  of  being  the  cUmax 
of  human  development;  (2)  that  these  reUgions  have 
shown  themselves  actually  possessed  of  inherent  power 
sufl5cient  to  lead  to  the  hope  of  their  universality  and 
perfection?  On  the  other  hand,  will  any  deny  that  if 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  as  described  by  Jesus  in  His 
parables  and  teachings,  were  realized  upon  the  earth,  it 
would  be  an  ideal  state,  one  of  perfect  happiness,  suffi- 
cient justification  and  explanation  of  man's  origin  and 
development?  Or  will  anyone  deny  that  the  Church 
of  Jesus,  which  has  overcome  the  rehgious  bigotry  of 
the  Jews,  the  refined  skepticism  of  the  Greeks,  the  proud 
selfishness  and  mighty  power  of  the  Romans,  the 
superstition  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  heresies  of  inward 
traitors  and  outward  foes,  and  holds  to-day  the  civiUzed 
and  self-governing  nations  of  the  world  in  its  rapidly 
widening  grasp,  possesses  a  mysterious  power,  one 
diametrically  opposed  to  any  human  force,  namely  the 
power  of  self-abnegation,  love,  weakness, — the  mightiest 
principle  which  the  world  has  ever  seen?  Do  not  all 
the  tendencies  of  the  present  lead  to  the  hope  that  this 
strange  power  will  continue  to  work  Uke  leaven  till  the 
whole  earth  is  impregnated  thereby,  and  subdued 
thereto,  and  God's  will  shall  b  Hone  on  earth  as  it  is 
now  done  in  Heaven?  Jesus  occupies  the  center  of 
History.  He  stands  alone.  No  other  man  ever  made 
such  claims  and  had  them  substantiated  by  such  a  spot- 
less hfe  and  sublime  death,  or  by  the  self-sacrificing 
labors  of  His  followers,  the  cheerful  death  of  martyred 
saints,  the  unprecedented  triumphs  of  his  teachings.  If 
then,  apart  altogether  from  the  miraculous  and  supra- 


30 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

sensuous  elements  in  the  life  of  Christ,  one  arrives  at 
the  perfectly  rational  conclusion  that  His  place  in  the 
plan  is  different,  not  only  in  degree  but  in  kind,  from  all 
others,  we  should  naturally  expect  three  things:  (i)  that 
the  soul  of  Jesus  should  come  from  a  different  sphere 
from  that  of  all  others;  (2)  that  it  should  be  incarnated 
by  a  different  process ;  and  (3)  that  the  development  of 
self-consciousness  and  power,  which  proceeds  slowly  in 
other  men,  would  be  exceedingly  rapid  in  Him,  and  that 
He  would  perform  acts  appearing  to  men  to  be  super- 
natural, which  they  would  call  miracles  and  imagine 
to  be  contraventions  of  the  laws  of  nature.  Looked  at 
from  this  point  of  view,  the  immaculate  conception  of 
Jesus  appears  to  be  precisely  what  we  should  have  ex- 
pected a  priori,  especially  when  we  find  that  in  so  many 
startling  particulars  He  fulfils  the  prophecies  of  the  Jews 
regarding  their  Messiah,  and  the  expectation  that  their 
deUverer  should  be  bom  of  a  pure  virgin. 

It  may  now  be  observed  that  pre-established  harmony 
is  an  explanation  quite  sufficient  to  make  us  view  this 
procedure  as  natural  and  orderly.  The  control  of  the  de- 
tails of  the  universe  by  its  Creator  may  be  by  the  con- 
tinual adjustment  and  exercise  of  His  ever-present 
power,  or  it  may  be  by  a  pre-arrangement  of  forces  that 
contain  sufficient  strength  to  carry  them  onwards,  under 
His  Divine  permission  and  guidance,  of  course,  to  ful- 
fil their  work  ages  after  the  creative  act  first  proceeded 
from  the  Divine  mind.  In  such  a  view  of  things  the 
pre-estabhshment  of  a  harmonious  relationship  between 
co-ordinating  physical  conditions  would  fully  account 
for  the  existence  in  the  Virgin  of  a  species  of  ovum 


31 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

which  would  contain  all  that  was'^necessary  forfthe 
production  of  a  man  child.  We  mean  that  the  Creator 
in  arranging  the  details  of  man's  life  on  earth,  with 
Divine  foresight  and  power,  might  have  so  planned  the 
physical  development  of  the  line  of  David  that  a 
descendant  of  that  house,  the  Virgin  Mary,  should  be  of 
this  nature  and  possess  this  exceptional  power. 

Moreover,  even  this  hypothesis  is  not  necessary  when 
we  reflect  that  God  not  only  governs  by  the  pre-estab- 
lished harmony  of  His  own  machinery,  but  that  every- 
where, and  in  all  things,  He  rules  by  direct  oversight 
from  Heaven,  that  He  makes  one  substance  different 
from  another  by  altering  the  afiinities  of  its  atoms  or  the 
polarities  of  its  ions  or  molecules.  Now  the  difference  be- 
tween an  imfertilized  ovum  and  one  that  is  fertilized,  or 
even  between  the  zoa  of  the  male  and  the  female  seed,  is 
merely  one  of  atomic  and  molecular  arrangement,  as 
are  all  differences  in  phenomena,  all  being  various  ex- 
pansions of  the  universal  substance.  Therefore  the 
simplest  and,  after  all,  the  most  rational,  idea  of  the 
conception  of  Jesus  in  the  Virgin  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  is 
the  old-fashioned  belief  that  the  power  of  the  Most 
High  came  upon  her  and  changed  the  constitution  of  the 
ovum,  perhaps  by  the  alteration  of  the  polarities  or 
affinities  of  its  atoms,  so  that  it  became  fertilized  directly, 
instead  of  intermediately  by  the  instrumentality  of  an 
earthly  father. 

It  may  be  argued  that  the  ground  of  this  controversy 
has  been  shifted  by  the  Higher  Criticism  to  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  first  chapters  of  St.  Luke  and  other 
portions  of  the  Gospels,  which  describe  the  conception 


32 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

and  birth  of  Jesus,  It  was  only  to  be  expected  that  men 
looking  first  at  the  antecedent  probability  of  each 
detail  in  the  story  would  assert  that  the  narrative  was 
written  to  fit  m  with  a  theory  of  Messiahship  as  it  existed 
in  the  mind  of  a  not-unbiassed  writer,  or  as  it  was 
handed  along  by  oral  exaggeration.  We  have  shown, 
however,  that  the  most  reasonable  and  philosophical  atti- 
tude is  that  of  a  spectator  who  views  the  whole  question 
in  the  light  of  its  historical  developments,  and  then,  after 
getting  his  true  bearings  as  to  the  general  character  of 
the  Incarnation,  begins  an  examination  of  the  details 
of  Our  Saviour's  life. 

It  is  asserted  by  some,  who  lay  especial  stress  upon  the 
genealogical  record  in  the  First  chapter  of  Matthew, 
tracing  the  descent  of  Jesus  from  Abraham  down,  that 
Joseph  was  the  father  of  our  Saviour.    In  the  i6th 
verse  of  this  chapter  we  read :  "And  Jacob  begat  Joseph, 
the  husband  of  Mary,  of  whom  was  bom  Jesus,  Who  is 
called  Christ."    We  should  not  fail  to  notice  that  this 
verse  is  the  only  one  of  the  series  into  which  the  name  of 
a  woman  is  brought.    If  it  were  intended  to  be  inferred 
that  Jesus  was  the  son  of  Joseph,  why  should  not  the 
form  of  this  verse  be  the  same  as  that  of  the  preceding 
fifteen  verses?    We  should  expect  the  verse  to  have 
been:  "And  Jacob  begat  Joseph,  and  Joseph  begat 
Jesus,  Who  is  called  Christ."  The  exceptional  way  in 
which  the  sentence  is  worded,  and  the  manner  m  which 
the  Virgin  is  introduced,  make  it  plain  that  while  the 
writer  regarded  Mary  as  unmistakably  the  mother  of 
Jesus,  he  either  did  not  believe  Joseph  to  be  His  father 
or  had  at  least  his  doubts  regarding  it.    Matthew  might 


33 


^f 


I  I  I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

not  have  happened  to  know  much  about  the  manner  of 
our  Lord's  birth,  and  might  have  been  merely  in  doubt 
as  to  whether  or  not  Joseph  was  really  the  father  of  Jesus. 
This  is  supposing  (contrary  to  our  admission)  that, 
though  the  first  seventeen  verses  are  authentic,  the  re- 
mainder of  the  chapter  is  a  later  interpolation,  mserted 
to  make  the  narrative  fit  in  with  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah: 
"Behold  a  Virgin  shall  be  with  child,  and  shall  bring 
forth  a  son,  and  they  shall  call  His  name  Immanuel, 
which  being  interpreted  is  'God  with  us\"  We  have 
shown  that,  even  if  this  were  the  case,  the  manner  of  St. 
Matthew's  narrative  in  the  first  eighteen  verses  would 
indicate  that  he  had  his  doubts  of  Joseph's  fatherhood. 
Again  even  if  Joseph  had  been  the  father  of  Jesus 
(which  we  do  not  admit),  it  would  not  have  proved  that 
the  conception  was  not  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  We 
cannot  tell  how  the  male  zoa  fecundate  the  female  when 
the  two  come  together  by  the  co-operation  of  the  sexes. 
There  is  required  in  the  conception  of  every  human 
being  the  guiding  and  indwelling  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  who  influences  the  spermatozoa  and  makes  them 
perform  their  work  by  a  direct  act  of  the  Divine  Will. 
You  cannot  explain  the  fertilization  of  an  ovum  by  any 
material  causes.  You  say  that  the  two  forms  of  matter 
possess  an  aflSnity  for  each  other  that  makes  them 
unite  and  a  fertilized  ovum  is  the  resuU.  But  what  is 
affinity  ?  Blind  attraction  ?  Certainly  not.  That  is 
the  ultima  thule  of  unreason.  There  must  be  a  conscious 
designing  power  at  the  back  of  the  motions  of  the 
spermatozoa  by  which  they  are  impelled  to  unite  with 
other  animalculae  in  the  ovum  and  to  begin  the  work  of 


34 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

creatine  Uttle  communities  of  Hving  organisms,  which 
in  the  aggregate  make  up  what  we  call  a  human  body. 
Under  any  circumstances,  therefore,  Jesus  must  have 
been  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost  and  bom  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  even  if  Joseph  had  been  a  human  in- 
strument used  by  God  as  an  intermediate  matenal 
agent  in  the  process  (which  he  was  not).    The  same 
reasoning  holds  true  of  any  of  the  other  disagreeable 
theories  that  may  be  advanced,  whether  it  be  asserted 
that  the  possible  earthly  agent  might  have  been  a  Roman 
soldier,  or  a  fanatical  priest  of  the  Temple,  who,  deceiy- 
ing  or  mayhap  self-deceived,  worked  upon  the  creduhty 
or  hysteria  of  the  Virgin,  rendering  her  the  unconscious 
co-agent  in  the  work.    There  is  something  intensely 
repugnant  and  inherently  discordant  with  the  whole 
system  in  any  of  these  suppositions,  especially  m  the 
theory  that  Joseph  was  the  father.    Upon  this  supposi- 
tion  we  might  search  for  a  long  time  in  the  laws  of 
heredity  to  discover  the  probable  production  of  such  a  son 
by  such  a  father.    Canon  Liddon  has  pointed  out,  in 
his  *Bampton  Lectures',  the  difficulty  of  accounting  for 
so  strange— so  audacious— an  ambition  in  an  unlearned 
and  obscure  Galilean,  upon  any  other  supposition  than 
His  divine  origin.    Whence    came    the    unparalleled 
claim  of  a  world-wide  empire,  an  undying  kingdom, 
the  absolute  yielding  of  the  hearts  and  wills  of  aU  men 
to  Him?    Surely  not  from  the  blood  and  bram  ot  a 
commonplace  Joseph.    We  see  therefore  that  the  state- 
ment  of  the  creeds,  "He  was  conceived  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  bom  of  the  Virgin  Mary,"  stands  impregnable, 
aad  that  the  most  probable  and  fitting  view,  as  weU  as 

35 


f 


'■M 


I'll 
1 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

the  most  rational  and  scientific,  is  the  old-fashioned 
orthodox  belief  which  we  have  heretofore  held,  that  the 
conception  was  an  extraordinary  working  of  the  Divine 
power  directly  from  Heaven. 


if 

1 


I 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  EXPLANATORY 
OF  THE  MIRACLES  OF  CHRIST. 

As  Jesus  grew  into  manhood,  constant  brooding  over 
His  plans  would  develop  within  Him  that  inner  power 
which  sees  below  the  surface  of  phenomena  and  pierces 
the  eternal  mystery  of  the  Real.    Vistas  of  the  true  laws 
that  govern  nature  would  be  spread  out  before  Him. 
The  ever-present  consciousness  of  His  destiny,  that 
resistless  river  within  each  soul,  which  sweeps  men  on 
through  life,  surged  within  His  breast.    Those  occasion- 
al gUmpses  which  all  get  of  their  former  Hfe— those 
fleeting,  indescribable  presentiments  that  lift  the  veil 
of  the  future  for  the  millionth  part  of  a  second--came 
to  Hun  frequently  and  were  recognized  by  Him  to 
be  what  they  are,— revelations  from  the  Father.    In- 
trospection with  Him  meant  communion  with  God. 
All  knowledge  comes  from  within.    Experience  of  ex- 
temaUties  furnishes  only  the  material  for  the  mind  to 
work  upon.    The  persistence,  power,  and  vividness  of 
internal  suggestion  are  the  most  prominent  character- 
istics of  all  true  prophets,  poets,  or  inventors.    Their 
minds  assume  control  of  their  bodies,  their  senses,  their 
experiences    and    aU    their    material    environments. 
So  this  vitalizing,  moulding,  classifying,  and  formative 
something  within  took  full  possession  of  the  young 
Galilean.    The  world  of  outward  facts  about  Him  was 


37 


B«iiicitr»mn'iiiN<mfc., 


y 


1 1 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

subjected  before  the  growing  consciousness  of  inward 
knowledge  and  power.    He  saw  that  things  are  false. 
They  appear  manifold  and  variegated,  and  they  really 
are  one,  of  one  substance  and  governed  by  one  mind. 
That  this  one  mind  is  God,  and  that  He  was  being  filled 
with  the  Divine  mind  more  than  any  other  man  had 
been,  or  would  be.  He  must  have  known  beyond  ques- 
tion.   Though  He  felt  His  knowledge  of  reaUties  widen- 
ing and  deepening  every  day,  He  could  not  have  yet 
become  infallible.    Long  after  this  He  confessed  that 
He  was  ignorant  of  certain  things  which  at  that  time  it 
was  not  given  to  any  but  the  Father  Himself  to  know. 
It  was  Uke  an  infinite  ocean  pouring  itself  down  into  an 
ever-enlarging  well,  a  receptacle  specially  constructed  to 
expand  and  to  hold  more  than  any  other,  yet,  for  the 
present,  Hmited.    Though  the  boundless  ocean  above 
still  emptied  itself  into  His  mind,  there  was  space  in  Him 
to  receive  more.    The  channel  of  communication  was 
unimpeded  from  the  Father  to  the  Son,  but  the  passage 
from  the  Son  to  the  Father  was  beset  by  the  hindrances 
incidental  to  humanity.    He  knew  that  He  was  being 
led  on  by  the  Spirit  and  brought  into  all  knowledge, 
and  that  He  was  gradually  acquiring  all  the  Father's 
power;  but,  for  the  time,  He  was  content  to  be  led  step 

bv  step. 
'  When  He  went  to  St.  John  the  Baptist  to  be  baptized, 
He  received  the  first  remarkable  confirmation  of  His 
mission.  It  was  probably  on  its  material  side  a  phe- 
nomenon of  an  electrical  nature.  We  cannot  satisfac- 
torily explain  the  origin  of  an  internally  suggested  idea 
by  any  known  law  of  psychology.    The  irritation  of  a 

38 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

neripheral  nerve  may  be  the  instrument  whereby  an 
Sternal  object  originates  an  idea;  but  to  find  the  source 
of  a  mental  act  that  springs  from  withm  is  a  difficulty 
that  can  be  solved  only  in  one  way.    We  must  believe 
that  our  brains  are  but  the  harps  upon  which  the  master 
hand  of  the  Spirit  plays  the  music  of  our  thoughts. 
Looked  at  froni  its  material  side,  the  act  of  the  World- 
Spirit  in  striking  off  an  idea  through  a  nerve  centre  of 
the  brain  is  akin  to  a  slight  electric  shock.    The  mani- 
festation of  God  to  Christ  at  the  River  Jordan  was 
nrobably  an  enlargement  and  intensification  of  the 
phenomenon  that  accompanies  the  suggestion  of  an 
ordinary  idea  to  a  commonplace  man.    The  brain  ot 
Christ  we  infer  d  priori,  would  Ukely  be  of  a  highly 
sensitive  and  deUcate  organization.    We  should  expect 
its  convolutions  to  be  more  numerous  and  more  higmy 
differentiated  than  in  the  case  of  any  other,  if  only  from 
the  introspective  and  intensely  contemplative  habit  wluch 
must  have  arisen  from  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  His 
birth  and  His  mother's  teaching.    Remembering  these 
facts,  we  can  picture  the  scene  at  the  river.    There  was 
the  excitement  and  magnetic  influence  of  a  large  gather- 
ing of  people.    The  young  and  unknown  Gahlean,  at- 
tracted by  the  fervid  outpourings  of  the  Baptist,  ap- 
proaches with  the  intensifying  consciousness  that  He  is 
nearing  a  crisis  in  His  Ufe.    He  is  impeUed  by  that 
strange  feeling  which  He  now  knows  so  well,  and  wjuch 
is  described  in  the  New  Testament  as  being    led  by 
the  Spirit".    The  fierce  denunciations  of  John  are  ring- 
ing m  the  ears  of  the  multitude:  "Oh  generation  of 
vipers,  who  hath  warned  you  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to 

39 


pyjjk,. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

come  ?  Bring  forth  therefore  fruits  meet  for  repentance, 
and  think  not  to  say  within  yourselves:  We  have 
Abraham  to  our  father;  for  I  say  unto  you  that  God  is 
able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up  children  i^nto  Abraham. 
And  now  also  the  axe  is  laid  unto  the  root  of  the  trees; 
therefore  every  tree  which  bringeth  not  forth  good  fruit 
is  hewn  down  and  cast  into  the  fire:  I  indeed  baptize 
you  with  water  unto  repentance,  but  He  that  cometh 
after  me  is  mightier  than  I,  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy 
to  bear;  He  shall  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
with  fire." — Matt.  Ill:  7  to  10. 

With  what  a  thrill  of  verified  presentiment  must 
Jesus  have  heard  these  words!  As  He  drew  nigh,  He 
must  have  been  raised  to  the  highest  pitch  of  nervous 
tension.  Then,  to  bring  the  strain  to  its  cHmax,  St. 
John,  recognizing  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  cries:  "Behold 
the  lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world ! 
This  is  He  of  whom  I  said:  After  me  cometh  a  man 
which  is  preferred  before  me,  for  He  was  before  me!" 

Might  we  not  anticipate  that  the  World-Spirit,  who 
works  upon  all  brains  making  ideas  known  by  electric 
shocks  that  disintegrate  nerve  centres,  would  give 
now  some  striking  manifestation  of  His  methods  of 
communication?  Should  we  not  expect  Him  to  say 
what  we  are  told  He  did  say:  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son 
in  whom  I  am  well  pleased  ?  "  It  may  have  been  merely 
an  idea  suggested  to  the  mind  of  Jesus :  "  Thou  art  my 
beloved  Son,"  as  St.  Luke  records,  accompanied  by  so 
powerful  an  electric  discharge  that  there  was  an  actual 
flame  of  light  resembling  a  dove  upon  His  head.  So 
great^was  the  magnetic  sympathy  in  the  overwrought 


40 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

and  excited  multitude  that  all  were  worked  upon  by 
the  same  idea,  and  to  them  it  was :  "  This  is  my  beloved 
Son."  When  we  offer  this  explanation,  however,  we 
do  not  take  the  miracle-element  out  of  the  scene. 
Looked  at  on  its  material  side,  it  was  probably  but  an 
extraordinary  instance  of  internal  suggestion,  manifest- 
ing itself  in  a  noticeable  electric  disturbance.  Yet 
back  of  every  internal  suggestion  is  God  or  Satan.  To 
resolve  some  miracles  into  phenomena  of  clairvoyance, 
hysteria,  nervous  prostration,  or  mania  is  not  finally  to 
explain  them,  but  merely  to  show  that  the  World- 
Spirit  sometimes  works  through  these  conditions. 

After  this  we  find  that  Jesus,  still  under  the  guidance 
of  His  internal  prompter,  went  into  an  uninhabited 
place  to  fast  and  meditate  in  order  that  He  should  be 
further  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  power  of  God. 
The  result  was  most  startling.  He  seems,  by  His  in- 
trospective reflection  and  by  His  communion  with  God 
—perhaps  also  by  intercourse  with  other  beings  of  the 
Spiritual  hierarchy  who  "ministered  imto  Him"— to 
have  discovered  three  secrets  of  nature  that  have  never 
been  revealed  to  any  other  man,  even  now  in  our  scien- 
tific age.    These  are: 

First.    The  transmutation  of  substances. 

Second.    The  true  nature  of  gravitation. 

Third.    The  secret  of  destructive  power. 

These  facts  are  presented  to  us  in  the  three 
temptations  by  which  He  was  assailed.  First.  He 
was  an  himgered,  and  the  Devil  suggested  to  Him 
that  He  should  convert  the  stones  about  Him  into 
bread 


41 


f      I, 


i. 


i' » 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

The  transmutation  of  substances  has  always  been  the 
golden  dream  of  the  scientific  explorer.  It  follows  nat- 
urally from  the  idea  of  the  unity  of  things.  If  the  trees 
and  railways  and  houses  and  men  about  us  are  but 
dififerent  combinations  of  the  atoms  of  one  elementary 
substance,  then  we  have  only  to  discover  what  it  is  that 
makes  these  atoms  combine  with  the  same  regularity  of 
difference,  and  the  ability  to  transmute  or  change  wood 
into  iron,  or  iron  into  flesh,  or  stones  into  bread,  will  at 
once  follow.  That  Jesus  had  by  this  time  begun  to 
realize  and  work  upon  the  unity  of  all  things  is  more 
than  probable.  As  He  understood  His  mission  to 
be  the  drawing  together  of  men  on  the  earth  into  one 
man  by  the  unity  of  theii  finite  souls  in  the  Infinite  God, 
so  He  saw  that  the  same  unitmg  force  is  triumphing  in 
nature  as  chemical  affinity,  molecular  cohesion,  and 
gravitation.  We  should  expect  from  the  revelation  of 
His  mission  as  moral  unity  an  enlightenment  within 
Him  upon  the  unity  of  nature,  and,  as  a  necessary  corol- 
lary therefrom,  the  power  to  reduce  our  seventy  or 
more  elementary  substances  into  fewer  and  more  general 
ones;  and,  finally,  after  He  had  been  raised  from  the 
dead  and  had  declared  that  all  power  in  Heaven  and 
earth  had  been  given  unto  Him,  we  should  expect  Him 
to  be  able  to  reduce  all  seventy  atoms  to  the  one  universal 
substance.  From  there  considerations  it  ought  not  to 
cause  in  us  surprise  that  the  first  great  specific  secret  of 
nature  apparently  discovered  by  Christ  should  have 
been  the  transmutation  of  substances.  Is  it  not  wonder- 
derful  that  the  dream  of  the  ancient  alchemists  and  the 
goal  of  modem   synthetic  chemists   was  reached  by 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

the  Galilean  in  His  solitary  meditation  before  He  had 
begun  His  active  work  or  had  wrought  a  smgle  miracle  ? 
Is  it  not  also  a  fact  strongly  corroborative  of  this  theory 
that  His  first  wonder  was  performed  by  virtue  of  this 
discoveiy?  The  changing  of  water  into  wme  is  just 
such  a  manifestation  of  His  power  as  we  should  have 

expected  ^  priori.  tt    i.  j 

The  second  temptation  of  Jesus  shows  that  He  had 
solved  the  secret  of  the  true  nature  of  gravitation,  and  this 
is  precisely  what  we  would  expect  to  foUow  f rom  His 
discovery  of  the  transmutation  of  substances  by  altering 
their  polarities  or  their  relation  to  Heaven.  Gravita- 
tion  is  God  manifesting  Himself  in  drawmg  boaies  to- 
gether,  just  as  in  chemical  affinity  He  draws  atoms,  or  m 
molecular  cohesion  He  draws  molecules.  We  are  told 
that  the  Devil  suggested  to  Jesus  that  He  should  cast 
Himself  down  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  Temple,  and 
God  would  give  His  Angels  charge  over  Him  so  that 
He  should  not  dash  His  foot  against  a  stone.  In  other 
words,  as  soon  as  He  had  discovered  a  secret  which 
enabled  Him  to  counteract  the  law  of  g  avitation,  He  felt 
a  natural  human  temptation  to  test  the  power  for  His 
own  satisfaction  and  perhaps  to  gratify  a  piide  of 
power  which  He  knew  to  be  a  sin.  He  was  so  real  a 
man  that  as  soon  as  He  had  the  power  He  wanted  to 
use  it  and  take  pleasure  in  it,  but  He  remembered  that 
the  Father  had  given  Him  this  new  potency  for  the  glory 
of  the  omnipotent  God  and  the  good  of  His  fellow-men. 
So  H2  put  the  temptation  from  Him;  but  the  indirect 
evidence  it  gives  of  Christ's  true  nature,  and  the  light  it 
throws  on  His  works,  remain  for  our  benefit.    Men  have 


42 


43 


Tr 


■'I 


n 


It 


li 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

always  looked  forward  to  a  time  when  they  could  fly  in 
the  air.  Flying  machines  are  the  first  inventions  that 
men  picture  to  themselves  when  they  prophesy  of  things 
to  come  in  a  few  centuries.  Yet  we  are  far  from  dis- 
covering the  great  secret  that  was  probably  revealed  to 
Jesus  in  the  wilderness,  a  discovery  that  explains  many 
of  the  most  remarkable  phenomena  of  His  Hfe  and  es- 
pecially the  great  fact  of  His  ascension. 

The  third  secret  is  the  counterpart  of  the  second. 
We  are  told  that  the  Devil  led  Christ  to  the  top  of  a 
high  mountain,  and  showed  Him  all  the  Kingdoms  of 
the  earth,  and  offered  Him  all  thmgs,  if  He  would 
bow  down  and  worship  him.  It  does  not  require  great 
ingenuity  to  offer  a  somewhat  plausible  explanation  of 
this  episode.  He  had  discovered  the  secret  of  destruc- 
tive power.  By  the  exercise  of  this  energy  He  could  have 
annihilated  all  the  armies  and  fortifications  in  the  world, 
and  reigned  an  earthly  king  with  supreme  authority 
and  the  highest  military  glory.  Some  men  regard 
Christ  as  a  mystical  Person,  who  was  neither  God  nor 
man.  They  invest  Him  with  a  halo  of  unreal  majesty 
that  obscures  His  humanity  and  prevents  the  outflow 
of  genuine  love  and  gratitude  toward  Him.  He  was 
so  truly  a  man,  so  natural,  and  so  like  any  other  young 
man  under  the  same  circumstances,  that  some  thought 
like  the  following  occurred  to  Him:  "Why  should  I  not 
set  up  an  eartUy  kingdom  and  conquer  these  proud 
Romans,  and  establish  the  throne  of  David  as  the 
supreme  power iof  the  world?  These  haughty  and 
selfish  foreigneis^who  are  trampling  upon  our^  God- 
selected  race,— vbehold  their  foolish  pride   in  armed 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

strength  1  How  easily  could  I  destroy  a  Roman  Legion  I" 
Then,  perhaps,  there  came  over  His  mind  the  recollec- 
tion of  the  mournful  cadence  of  Isaiah:  "He  was  de- 
spised and  rejected  of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows  and 
acquainted  with  grief;  and  we  hid  as  it  were  our  faces 
from  Him!"  He  saw  a  nobler  kingdom  than  that  of 
earth;  a  kingdom  that  should  have  no  end,  wherein 
should  reign  love  and  peace  and  absolute  unity  through 
self-sacrifice.  This  power  of  destruction  was  but  an 
instrument  to  be  subjected  to  His  more  glorious  work. 
With  meek  submission  He  threw  back  the  momentary 
impulse  that  had  come  over  him  when  the  secret  of 
destruction  first  flashed  through  His  mind,  an  impulse 
that  was  foreign  to  His  true  nature,  but  which  shows 
the  reahty  of  His  manhood.  When  we  read  of  His  sub- 
sequent sufferings,  and  of  the  mob  that  came  to  take 
Him.  headed  by  the  miserable  Judas,  and  reflect  upon 
this  secret  knowledge  whereby  He  could  have  blown 
them  Hterally  to  atoms,  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the 
sublimity  of  His  sacrifice. 

The  events  of  the  first  week  after  Christ's  return  from 
the  Wilderness  are  interesting  to  the  scientific  enquirer 
because  of  the  evidence  they  bear  to  His  power  of  mind- 
reading  and  the  personal,  magnetic  or  mesmeric  power 
by  which  He  attracted  His  followers  about  Him.  Two 
disciples  of  the  Baptist,  one  of  whom  was  Andrew  and 
the  other,  in  all  probability,  the  beloved  disciple,  had 
followed  Jesus  from  Jordan  and  enquired  timidly  of 
Him  where  He  made  His  abode.  He  told  them  to 
"Come  and  see."  The, result  was  that  they  became 
immediately  attached  to  Him  with  a  love  that  lasted 


r 


44 


45 


rat 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


during  their  lives.  Andrew  went  in  search  of  his 
brother  Peter,  and  the  bold  enthusiast  at  once  yielded 
to  the  attraction  which  Jesus  exercised  over  all  whom 
He  chose  to  win  to  His  immediate  service.  Philip  of 
Bethsaida  was  overtaken  as  they  were  starting  on  their 
return  to  Galilee,  and  the  simple  command,  "Follow 
me,"  was  wiUingly  obeyed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  others. 
Philip  had  a  friend  Nathaniel,  or  Bartholomew,  who 
lived  at  Cana,  and  his  first  thought  was  to  commimicate 
the  discovery  to  him.  He  sought  him  out  and  cried: 
"We  have  found  Him  of  whom  Moses  in  the  law  and 
the  Prophets  did  write."  Bartholomew  seems  to  have 
been  a  deeply  contemplative  and  serious  man.  He 
was  probably  studying  his  daily  office  of  prayer,  as  it 
was  the  custom  of  pious  Jews  to  do,  under  a  fig  tree, 
and  possibly  his  thoughts  were  on  the  subject  of  the 
promised  Messiah.  When  told  by  Philip  who  this  new 
claimant  was,  that  it  was  only  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the 
son  of  Joseph,  the  momentary  flush  of  excitement  died 
away  from  his  face,  and  he  enquired  with  a  half  sneer: 
"Can  there  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth?" 
PhiHp  told  him  to  "Come  and  see."  When  Jesus  saw 
Nathaniel  coming  He  said,  "Behold  an  Israehte  in- 
deed, in  whom  is  no  guile!"  Nathaniel  said  unto  Him, 
"  Whence  knowest  thou  me  ?  "  Jesus  answered  and  said, 
"Before  that  Philip  called  thee,  when  thou  wast  imder 
the  fig  tree,  I  saw  thee."  There  can  be  ht^e  doubt 
that  it  was  the  look  of  secret  sympathy  and  intelligence 
accompanying  these  words,  revealing  to  the  starded 
Bartholomew  the  fact  that  Jesus  had  read  the  train  of 
thought  upon  which  he  was  occupied  when  he  sat  under 


46 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

the  fig  tree,  that  caused  him  to  cry  out  immediately: 
"Rabbi  thou  art  the  Son  of  God;  thou  art  the  King  of 
Israel."  Jesus  said  unto  him,  "Because  I  said  unto 
thee  I  saw  thee  under  the  fig  tree,  believest  thou  ?  Thou 
shalt  see  greater  things  than  these."  Then  as  if  to 
open  up  the  highest  vista  of  the  universe  that  had  been 
yet  vouchsafed  to  Him,  showing  that  He  had  grasped 
the  idea  of  Heaven  as  a  sphere  above  us,  attracting  our 
eaith,  and  all  on  it,  to  itself,  and  from  which  God  sends 
down  His  spiritual  forces  to  move  and  direct  all  earthly 
objects.  He  utters  the  striking  words,  rather,  perhaps, 
as  an  expression  of  His  own  exalted  vision  than  as  an 
intelligible  promise  to  His  hearers:  "Ye  shall  see 
Heaven  opened,  and  the  Angels  of  God  ascending  and 
descending  upon  the  Son  of  Man." 

Jesus  seems  to  have  had  a  motive  for  hurrying  back 
to  Galilee.  There  was  to  be  a  wedding  in  Cana,  and 
from  the  prominent  part  taken  therein  by  Mary,  the 
bride  was  probably  her  daughter  or  niece.  The  arrival 
of  the  five  newly-found  friends  of  Jesus  appears  to  have 
been  unexpected,  and  His  mother  had  evidently  thought 
He  would  return  alone.  When  she  found  that  the  wine 
was  becoming  exhausted  therefore,  she  appealed  to  Him 
to  help  them  in  this  strait,  having  faith  in  His  divine 
powers.  At  first,  Jesus,  apparently,  disHked  the  idea. 
In  His  subsequent  Hfe  He  displayed  the  same  shrinking 
from  the  exercise  of  any  manifestation  of  supernatural 
power.  His  reply,  "Woman  what  have  I  to  do  with 
thee?"  would  be  divested  of  its  apparent  harshness  if 
we  understood  the  term  "woman"  to  be  one  of  possible 
tenderness  as  it  was  in  the  original,  and  the  idea  seems 


47 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


to  be  rather,  "  Mother,  what  has  this  to  do  with  me,  or 
my  mission  ?  Why  should  I  employ  any  of  my  newly- 
discovered  powers,  which  were  given  me  for  the  glory  of 
God,  in  supplying  your  temporary  need  ?  Mine  hour 
is  not  yet  come."  A  second  thought,  however,  altered 
His  decision.  He  may  have  reflected  that  the  shortage 
was  largely  due  to  his  having  brought  five  extra  guests, 
so  that  He  was  in  duty  bound  to  repair  the  evil,  if  He 
could,  or  He  may  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that, 
after  all.  His  hour  for  showing  con^^rol  of  phenomena 
had  come,  and  that  this  was  a  good  opportunity  to  begin. 
The  act  of  changng  the  water  into  wine  was  the  sim- 
plest experiment  of  His  new  theory  of  the  transmutation 
of  substances.  It  involved  only  a  mere  outflow  of 
electric  force  whereby  the  molecules  of  the  water  were 
charged  and  their  polarities  sHghtly  altered.  It  may 
have  been  that  as  His  eyes  rested  on  the  s  x  pots  of 
stone  the  plan  occurred  to  Him,  and  He  inferred  from 
the  fact  of  God^s  having  brought  the  means  so  near  to 
His  hand  that  He  intended  Him  to  use  them.  He 
seems  to  have  intimated  to  His  mother  that  He  would 
comply  with  her  request,  for  she  gave  the  domestics  in- 
structions to  place  themselves  at  His  disposal.  The 
result  was  what  we  might  have  expected.  The  phenom- 
enal water  became  phenomenal  wine.  It  was  real  wine 
in  the  same  sense  that  water  is  real  water.  Water  and 
wine  as  well  as  nitric  acid  and  sugar,  or  ink  and  milk, 
are  really  all  the  same  substance.  They  are  but  differ- 
ent kinds  of  expansions  of  that  substance;  and  to  one 
who  understood  how  through  polarization  or  magnetism 
these  different  degrees  of  expansion  are  accomplished^ 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

a  secret  which  we  are  clearing  up  slowly  nowadays,  it 
was  indeed  a  simple  act  to  change  the  water  into  wine. 
Jesus  could  not  have  been  a  real  man  without  feeling 
somewhat  elated  in  consequence  of  the  success  of  His 
first  miracle.  By  this  name  we  rightly  denominate  His 
extraordinary  and  wonderful  manifestation  of  control 
of  the  external  world.  There  must  have  been  a  hunian 
delight  in  His  awful  power,  and  a  thrill  of  satisfaction 
because  the  Father  had  now  corroborated  beyond  all 
possibiUty  of  doubt  the  truth  of  His  mother's  story  and 
His  own  beUef  in  His  Messiahship.  While  the  voice 
that  cried,  "This  it  my  beloved  Son,"  at  His  baptism 
might  be  mistaken  for  a  purely  subjective  or  imaginary 
revelation;  here  was  the  actual  change  of  an  external 
object  that  could  be  tasted  and  handled  and  proved 
by  the  senses  through  its  permanence.  Though  He 
had  refused  to  convert  stones  into  bread  to  appease  His 
own  hunger,  or  to  gratify  His  own  curiosity,  or  to  test  His 
revealed  discovery.  He  had  transmuted  the  water  into 
wine  for  the  sake  of  others,  and  had  received  His  assur- 
ance from  the  Father. 

What  should  be  done  next  ?  His  hour  had  come.  ^He 
would  proclaim  Himself  the  Messiah,  and  this  in^the 
most  public  manner.  The  Passover  was  at  hand.  He 
would  go  to  Jerusalem,  the  center  of  rehgious  activity, 
the  seat  of  God's  covenanted  spiritual  Presence.  Men 
had  corrupted  the  worship  of  the  God  of  love.  Their 
rites  and  ceremonies  were  but  a  cloak  for  hollow  selfish- 
ness and  repulsive  worldhness.  His  first  work  must  be 
to  purify  the  fountain  head.  He  therefore  took  His 
mother  and   brethren   and    disciples    and    went    to 


4f 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


Capernaum  to  await  the  first  caravan  starting  for  the 
Capital. 

As  they  drew  near  to  Jerusalem,  dense  throngs  of  pil- 
grims were  discerned  coming  from  all  quarters  to  the 
Holy  City.    Proselytes  t)f  every  nation  were  uttering 
cries  in  their  own  languages,  and  the  chaos  that  attends 
large  crowds  of  strangers  was  visible  on  all  sides.  The 
streets  and  avenues  leading  to  the  Temple  were  espec- 
ially  crowded.    Here   the   fakirs   that   attend  show- 
gatherings  were  busy  crying  their  wares.    Jugglers  and 
mountebanks  were  endeavoring  to  attract  the  attention 
of  the  visiting  pilgrims.    There  were  other  objects  of 
merchandise,   however,   connected  with  the   Temple 
service.    Sacrifices  of  sheep  and  oxen  and  doves  were 
to  be  made.    Drovers  and  others  that  had  these  creat- 
ures for  sale  thronged  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  so  that 
within  the  consecrated  enclosure  were  penned  herds  of 
animals  that  polluted  the  sacred  place  with  their  filth. 
As  the  yearly  tribute  of  the  Atonement  money,  half  a 
shekel,  which  must  be  given  to  the  Priests  by  every 
Israelite,  and  by  the  proselytes  from  all  parts,  could  only 
be  paid  in  silver,  a  thriving  exchange  traffic  was  carried 
on  by  large  numbers  of  vendors  that  took  the  coins  of 
different  countries,  and  various  metals,  in  exchange  for 
the  required  sort.    We  can  imagine  the  shock  of  awed 
surprise  which  came  upon  the  startled  crowds  as  the 
figure  of  the  young  Galilean  appeared  among  them, 
erect  and  stem,  full  of  an  indescribable,  magnetic  power 
that  caused  a  paralysis  to  steal  over  their  brains  and 
rendered  them  powerless  to  oppose  His  will.    With  a 
scourge  of  rushes,  hastily  picked  up  from  the  ground, 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

He  drove  out  the  degraded  hucksters  and  overthrew  the 
tables  of  the  money-changers.  The  droves  of  cattle  and 
sheep  were  turned  out  of  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
He  ordered  them  to  remove  the  cages  of  doves. 

When  this  had  been  done,  the  people  partially  re- 
covered from  the  first  effects  of  the  shock.  The  Priests 
and  Scribes  and  leaders  of  the  people,  when  they  had 
regained  sufficient  composure,  gathered  around  Him, 
and,  while  not  yet  daring  to  accuse  or  attack  Him,  de- 
manded by  what  authority  He  took  these  bold  measures, 
and  challenged  Him  to  show  some  signs  in  proof  that 
He  was  rightly  assuming  this  high-handed  position. 
The  thought  that  seems  to  have  flashed  through  His 
brain  was  singularly  in  keeping  with  our  theory  of  the 
development  of  the  Divine  knowledge  and  power  within 
Him.  It  was  what  we  should  expect,  d,  priori,  to  enter 
His  mind  at  this  instant.  Here  was  a  moment  of  in- 
tense nervous  tension.  His  brain  must  have  been  in  a 
highly  sensitive  and  excited  state,  and  His  mind  in  a 
condition  of  great  exaltation.  Before  Him  rose  the 
magnificent  Temple  and,  at  once,  there  came  upon  Him 
the  recollection  of  His  discovery  of  the  secret  of  de- 
structive power.  "I  could  destroy  this  Temple  and,  in 
less  than  three  days,  I  could  bring  its  parts  together 
agam  by  the  magnetic  xmion  of  the  particles  of  the  stones 
and  by  my  power  over  the  gravitation  of  the  materiab 
to  each  other."  But  in  the  minutest  fraction  of  a  second 
this  thought  was  succeeded  by  another,  "It  is  the  Devil 
who  destroys.  Your  mission  is  to  construct  and  unify." 
Therefore  He  said  aloud,  "Destroy  this  Temple  and 
in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up."    A  third  thought  was 


fx 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

possibly  sent  by  the  Spirit  as  quickly  as  an  electric  spark 
flies,  "Nay,  I  have  put  this  into  thy  mind  to  teach 
thee  that  they  shall  destroy  the  temple  of  thy  body,  and 
in  three  days  I  shall  raise  it  up  again ;  and  that  this  ex- 
clusive system  of  worship  shall  be  superseded  by  a 
church  of  Jews  and  Gentiles  that  thou  shalt  found, 
a  Temple  that  shall  be  ten  thousand  times  more 
glorious  than  this  of  Solomon." 

The  effect  on  the  Jews  however  was  powerful  and 
lasting.  They  broke  up  into  angry  groups  discussing 
loudly  this  apparently  blasphemous  assertion,  for,  like 
most  utterances,  it  was  soon  distorted  by  those  who 
heard  it  in  their  relation  of  it  to  others  that  had  been 
out  of  hearing.  It  was  twisted  into  a  statement  that 
He  would  destroy  the  Temple  and  in  three  days  build  it 
again.  Others  would  probably  report  that  He  had 
spoken  derisively  of  the  Temple  saying  that  He  could 
build  a  better  one  in  three  days.  Jesus  Himself  prob- 
ably explained  to  His  disciples  afterwards,  or  at  least  to 
the  one  whQm  He  loved  and  who  tells  us  Our  Saviour's 
meaning  here,  that  the  real  and  spiritual  reference  was 
to  the  destruction  of  His  body.  The  lasting  nature  of 
the  effect  of  His  words  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  three 
years  afterwards  they  were  used  in  evidence  against 
Him  at  His  trial  before  the  Sanhedrim. 

The  thought  of  the  destruction  of  His  body  perhaps 
recalled  the  fact  that  His  must  be  a  hfe  of  meekness 
rather  than  of  triumphant  manifestations  of  power. 
The  latter  must  not  usurp  the  chief  place  in  His  work, 
but  should  be  always  subjected  to  the  higher  work  of 
teaching  love  and  non-resistance,    of  showing  to  the 


5« 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

world  that  the  greatest  power  on  earth  is  gentleness. 
Some  exercises  of  His  extraordinary  potency  He  would 
allow  Himself  to  work  for  the  relief  of  suffering  and  the 
strengthening  of  His  mission,  but  these  must  take  a 
subordinate  place.  He  did  not  wish  to  draw  men  to 
Him  by  their  love  of  the  marvellous,  by  pandering  to 
their  vulgar  admiration  of  signs  and  wonders.  There- 
fore, instead  of  going  on  with  an  exciting  work  in  the 
Holy  City,  it  would  be  better  to  return  quietly  to  Naz- 
areth and,  by  teachmg  and  doing  good,  slowly  prepare 
the  whole  country  for  the  final  publication  of  His 
Kingdom  at  Jerusalem. 

One  incident,  however,  arises  from  this  visit  to  the 
Temple  that  brings  out  clearly  Our  Lord's  compre- 
hension of  His  mission.  Amongst  the  spectators  of  His 
attack  upon  the  defilers  of  the  Temple  was  Nicodemus, 
a  member  of  the  Sanhedrim  and  a  man  of  thought. 
The  bearing  of  Jesus  and  the  attractiveness  of  His 
Holy  personality  had  made  a  deep  impression  upon  the 
aristocrat.  He  was  anxious  to  hear  more  of  this  young 
provincial  enthusiast.  These  acts  and  words  seemed 
fraught  with  divine  power.  No  man  could  do  things 
like  these,  unless  God  were  with  him.  The  Hebrew 
ruler  had  all  the  timidity  of  a  conventionalist  and  a 
man  of  position,  a  shyness  which  shrinks  from  emotional 
vulgarity  and  dreads  above  all  things  the  ridicule  of  one's 
peers.  He  may  have  come  to  Jesus  secretly  by  night, 
less  from  actual  fear  of  the  Jews  than  from  a  dread  of 
the  personal  humihation  which  he  would  feel  if,  after 
all,  this  young  prophet  should  prove  to  be  a  quack  or  a 
fanatic.    The  words  of  our  Saviour  to  him  are  clear 


53 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


and  in  accordance  with  the  theory  we  are    setting 
forth,  that  whereas  all  other  men  have  come  from  the 
moon  or  some  other  planet  and  were  cast  into  Hell, 
viz.,  our  earth  when  it  was  a  "lake  of  fire",  Jesus  came 
directly  from  the  central  sphere,  and  was  incarnated  by 
a  different  process  of  conception,  and  was  the  only  be- 
gotten Son  of  God  in  this  special  sense,  who  was  sent 
by  the  Father  to  get  us  out  of  our  world  of  everlasting 
torment  back  to  God  by  love.     "Marvel  not  that  I  said 
unto  thee.  Ye  must  be  born  from  above,  *  *  *  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  we  speak  that  we  do  know  and  bear 
witness  of  that  we  have  seen,  and  ye  receive  not  our  wit- 
ness. If  I  told  you  earthly  things  and  ye  believe  not,  how 
shall  ye  beheve  if  I  tell  you  heavenly  things  ?  And  no  man 
hath  ascended  into  Heaven  but  He  that  descended  out 
of  Heaven  even  the  Son  of  Man  which  is  in  Heaven" 
After  a  brief  stay  in  Judea,  during  which  the  disciples 
baptized  a  few  converts,  they  began  their  return  to 
Nazareth.    On  His  way  Jesus  stopped  at  Jacob's  Well, 
near  Sychar,  to  rest,  while  His  disciples  probably  went 
to  the  city  near  by  to  obtain  provisions.    A  woman 
came  to  draw  water,  and  the  dialogue  that  ensued  forms 
a  complement  to  the  conversation  with  Nicodemus, 
in  the  light  which  it  throws  on  Christ's  full  realization 
of  the  spirituality  and  universality  of  His  kingdom. 
God  should  henceforth  be  worshipped  in  spirit  and 
in  truth,  without  regard  to  geographical  boundaries.  For 
the  first  time  Jesus  explicitly  and  unambiguously  de- 
clares His  Messiahship,  "  I  that  speak  to  thee  am  He." 
Our  Lord  also  shows  His  power  either  of  mind-reading 
or  superhuman  knowledfje  in  telling  the  woman  of  her 
adulterous  life. 

54 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION 

When  they  arrived  at  Nazareth,  Jesus  went  into  the 
synagogue  on  the  Sabbath  and,  according  to  His  custom, 
stood  up  to  read.    The  book  of  Isaiah  was  handed  to 
Him,  and  He  read  from  the    sixty-first  chapter  the 
words:  "The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me  to  preach 
good  tidings  to  the  poor.    He  hath  sent  me  to  proclaim 
release  to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the 
blind;  to  set  at  Uberty  them  that  are  bruised;  to  proclaim 
the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord."    He  sat  down  to  ex- 
pound the  passage  as  was  the  custom.    When  He  pro- 
ceeded to  show  that  these  words  applied  to  Him,  that 
He  was  the  promised  Deliverer,  they  Hstened  spell- 
bound by  the  grace  of  His  demeanor  and  the  force  of 
His  arguments.    Then  the  thought  arose,  "Whence 
hath  He  this  wisdom  ?   Is  not  this  the  son  of  Joseph  ? 
Can  this  be  the  boy  we  have  seen  grow  up  amongst  us  ? 
Such  thoughts  as  these  roused  the  petty  jealousies  and 
provincial  prejudices  of  the  Nazarenes.    Their  wonder 
grew  into  anger.    "The  man  pretendeth  to  be  the 
Messiah!    He  is  mad  I    This  is  blasphemy  1"     These 
were  probably  the  muttered  remarks.    Yet  above  th^e 
angry  murmurings  the  calm  voice  of  Jesus  continued  the 
argument.      His  kingdom  was  to  be  a  universal  one  and 
should  embrace  the  Gentiles.    To  prove  that  God  had 
regarded  the  heathen  nations  with  favor.  He  quoted 
precedents  in  the  Hves  of  EUjah  and  EHsha.     There 
had  been  many  widows  in  Israel,  yet  EUjah  had  been 
sent  only  to  a  foreigner,  the  widow  at   Zarephath. 
There  had  been  many  lepers  in  Israel,  yet  EUsha  had 
cured  only  Naaman  who  was  a  Syrian.    God  thereby 
showed  that  His  salvation  should  come  to^the  Gentiles 


55 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

as  well  as  His  chosen  race.  This  was  too  much.  The 
grumblings  grew  into  open  and  frequent  interruptions, 
and  finally  all  present  rose  to  their  feet,  overcome  with 
rage,  and  seized  Him.  What  should  they  do  with  this 
presumptuous  young  fanatic  whose  ambition  had  crazed 
Him,  who  had  been  brought  up  amongst  them  and  now 
aspired  to  be  their  ruler,  and  even  claimed  to  be  the 
promised  Messiah?  This  then  was  the  secret  of  His 
quiet  ways!  He  had  never  mingled  with  the  rest  of 
them  but  kept  much  in  solitude  and  meditation.  This 
was  the  explanation  of  His  sham  humility.  He  thought 
Himself  above  them  all.  He  would  like  them  to  ac- 
knowledge Him  as  a  prophet,  forsooth !  He  must  die. 
There  is  the  cliff  yonder.  Let  us  take  Him  hence  and 
throw  Him  over!    To  the  cHff!    To  the  cliff! 

While  they  were  hurrying  Him  along,  Jesus  probably 
thought  of  the  second  form  of  His  temptation.  He  had 
been  tempted  to  test  His  power  of  contravening  the  law 
of  gravitation  by  throwing  Himself  from  the  pinnacle 
of  the  Temple,  which  would  have  been  at  the  same  time 
a  startUng  way  of  attracting  the  attention  of  all  Palestine. 
He  had  refused  to  yield  to  the  suggestion  which  He 
recognized  as  coming  from  the  Devil;  and  now  God  was 
going  to  give  Him  the  opportunity  He  desired.  When 
they  reached  the  edge  of  the  chff  therefore  to  cast  Him 
over,  instead  of  seeing  Him  fall  a  hfeless  corpse  on  the 
rocks  below.  He  seemed  transformed  into  some  light 
and  airy  substance  that  could  penetrate  material  ob- 
jects and  go  straight  through  them.  In  this  manner 
He  passed  through  the  mic^t^of  them  as  though  He 
were  some  impalpable  and  intangible  Spirit,  and  a  few 

56 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

seconds  later  they  saw  Him  pursuing  His  way  down  the 
hill  and  out  of  their  reach.  In  contravening  the  law 
that  drew  Him  to  the  center  of  gravity,  He  had  also 
temporarily  suspended  the  cohesion  of  the  molecules 
that  composed  His  body. 

Compelled  to  fly  from  His  native  place,  Jesus  went 
to  the  neighboring  town  of  Cana,  where  He  probably 
expected  to  obtam  shelter  from  the  friends  or  relatives 
for  whom  He  had  wrought  his  first  miracle.    He  may 
have  foreseen  His  possible  ejection  from  Nazareth  and 
have  arranged  beforehand  that  His  mother  and  brethren 
and  disciples  should  meet  Him  in  Cana  to  decide  where 
they  should  go  next.    When  he  arrived,  there  came 
in  great  distress  an  officer  of  Herod's  Court,  probably 
Chusa,  the  steward.    His  son  was  dying  at  Capemaiun, 
five  hours  journey  from  Cana,  and  he  begged  that  Jesus 
would  come  immediately  to  heal  him.    Jesus  said, 
"Except  ye  see  signs  and  wonders,  ye  will  in  no  wise 
believe."    Chusa's  reply  was  a  natural  one.    He  did 
not  wish  to  argue  about  belief.    He   merely  cried, 
"Sir,  come  down  ere  my  child  die!"     This  showed  the 
reality  of  his  faith  too  touchingly  to  be  resisted  by  the 
loving  Saviour;  but  ere  Jesus  began  to  set  forth,  a 
message  probably  came  to  Him  from  the  Spirit,  a  voice 
which  he   might   now   clearly   distinguish   from   the 
thoughts  of  His  human  nature:    "The  child  lives.    He 
has  just  undergone  a  change,  and  the  fever  has  left  him." 
It  may  be  that  the  power  of  mind  reading  that  He  had 
already  shown,  arising  from  his  ability  to  place  Himself 
in  electrical  affinity  with  the  presiding  mind  of  God  in 
nature  so  extended   itself  that  He  was  dimly  conscious 


57 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION 


of  all  things;  and  when  His  attention  was  concentrated 
upon  any  one  scene  of  activity,  even  though  it  were 
many  miles  distant,  the  dim  consciousness  became  vivid 
and  clear  and,  in  the  spirit.  He  saw  the  scene  in  some 
such  way  as  God  sees  it  from  the  central  sphere. 
Whether  Jesus  merely  received  a  rapid  message  of  in- 
ternal suggestion,  or  yielded  to  an  impulse  that  He  did 
not  fully  understand,  or  whether  he  was  able  to  transport 
His  mind  to  Capernaum  and  into  the  sick  boy's  cham- 
ber, or  to  cure  Him  by  a  telepathic  discharge  of  nerve 
force,  He  was  able  to  say  to  the  nobleman,  "  Go  thy 
way.  Thy  son  liveth."  When  the  officer  set  out  to 
return  homewards,  he  met  his  servants  coming  to  tell 
him  that  the  crisis  had  passed;  and  the  time  of  the  change 
coincided  exactly  with  the  moment  of  our  Saviour's 
utterance.  It  was  probably  due  to  Chusa's  gratitude 
and  also,  perhaps,  to  the  proximity  of  Bethsaida  and 
the  residence  of  Peter  and  Andrew  and  the  majority  of 
Christ's  followers,  that  He  now  made  a  stay  at  Caper- 
naum. 

A  memorable  Sabbath  day's  work  here  comes  to  our 
notice.  He  taught  in  the  synagogue  during  the  morning 
and  healed  a  demoniac  or  epileptic.  Leaving  the  syn- 
agogue, He  went  to  Peter's  house  at  Bethsaida  and  cured 
Simon's  wife's  mother  of  fever;  and  toward  evening  a 
multitude  of  sick  folk  were  brought  to  Him,  and  He 
healed  them  of  all  manner  of  diseases.  In  each  case 
we  are  told  that  He  "rebuked"  the  evil  spirit  which 
caused  the  disease. 

Epilepsy  in  the  time  of  our  Lord  was  rightly  ascribed 
to  Its  true  cause,  the  working  of  an  unseen  baneful 


spiritual  influence,  whereas  now,  in  the  days  of  scientific 
research,  the  minds  of  men  have  been  turned  from 
fundamental  and  primary,  unseen  forces  by  the  continued 
observation  of  the  material  and  the  seen.  ^Though  the 
result  has  been  fruitful  of  knowledge  in  the  sphere  of 
practical  therapeutics  and  the  adjustment  ^of  secondary 
and  outward  material  phenomena,  advanced  thinkers 
are  drawing  nearer  the  spiritual  point  of  view  of  the  de- 
spised days  of  superstition.  The  mind  is^the  only 
permanent  portion  of  man,  not  only  from  life  to  life  but 
also  from  year  to  year.  Since  every  part  of  our  physical 
frame  undergoes  complete  renewal,  not  every  seven 
years  or  even  every  three  years  but  every  year,  and  since 
there  is  not  any  portion  of  our  bone  or  muscle  or 
membrane  or  any  tissue  whatsoever  remaining  in  our 
composition  now  that  was  part  of  us  two  years  ago, 
what  in  us  is  continuous?  The  power  of  recollection, 
the  consciousness  of  identity?  Yes;  but  we  may  not 
remember  many  things  we  have  the^secret  potentiality 
of  recaUing,  were  that  latent  power  to  be  drawn 
out  by  suitable  circumstances;  and  our  consciousness  of 
identity  from  year  to  year  is  never  as  full  as  it  might  be, 
were  a  wider  and  deeper  symphony  to  be  played  on  the 
chords  of  our  memory  by  the  invisible  musician  of  In- 
finity. Remembering  always  that  spiritual  forces  are 
the  only  dynamical  springs  of  action,  that  material 
phenomena  are  mechanical  and  secondary  and  obey  the 
commands  of  the  hidden  spirit  with  the  accuracy  and 
regularity  of  automata,  we  trace  all  changes  of  animal 
tissue  to  the  brain  and  thence  to^the  invisible  mover  in 
the  central  sphere  of  Heaven.    We  can  now  dearly  take 


t     Ji» 


58 


59 


'I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


up  the  sequence  of  cause  and  effect  at  the  point  where 
materialistic  medical  science  loses  it.  Anatomists  point 
out  to  us  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  brain  and  spinal 
chord  and  show  us  the  ramifications  of  the  nervous 
system.  Physiologists  explain  the  manner  in  which  the 
organs  of  the  human  frame  fulfil  their  functions  of 
digestion  and  nutrition  and  secretion  when  a  due 
measure  of  vital  force  is  transmitted  to  them  through 
the  nerves  from  the  brain.  Pathologists  compare  the 
broken  parts  of  the  intricate  machine  with  similar  ones 
in  a  sound  state,  and  lay  greater  stress  year  by  year  upon 
the  nervous  system  and  the  adjustment  of  nerve  centres 
in  the  brain  as  the  prime  cause  of  irregularity  in  the 
subordinate  parts  of  the  human  structure.  If  the  soul 
be  the  only  permanent  portion  of  our  composition,  and 
the  body  but  a  cluster  of  atoms  that  it  has  the  power 
to  draw  to  itself  out  of  its  material  environments,  and 
hold  around  itself,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  believe  that 
every  disorganization  of  any  portion  of  that  cluster  can 
only  be  permitted  by  a  voluntary  relaxation  of  the  soul 
or  mind  itself  ?  Suppose  that  a  piece  of  steel  is  driven 
with  force  into  my  arm.  There  is  a  relaxation  of  the 
coherence  of  the  molecules  of  carbon,  oxygen,  nitro- 
gen, and  hydrogen,  or  other  constituents  of  flesh,  suf- 
ficient to  enable  the  steel  to  enter  the  same.  As  soon  as 
the  foreign  substance  is  withdrawn,  a  process  of  integra- 
tion, begins.  Leucocytes  cling  to  the  sides  of  the  veins, 
pass  through  the  walls  thereof  into  the  disturbed  tissues, 
and  begin  to  build  up  again  and  unite  the  torn  parts.  We 
ask  the  scientists  for  an  explanation  of  these  facts. 
They  can  describe  the  material  circumstances;  but  when 


60 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


we  press  them  for  the  ultimate  principle  that  underlies 
the  process  they  are  powerless.  They  say,  "Nature 
works  the  cure".  It  is  the  healing  of  a  wound  by  virtue 
of  certain  "natural  laws"  that  they  are  too  apt  to 
consider  not  at  all  mysterious  because  they  have  tabu- 
lated and  labelled  them.  They  are  disposed  to  think 
that  they  do  not  require  to  seek  the  primary  cause.  If 
we  believe  that  there  are  within  us  two  antagonistic 
beings,  God,  who  unites  us  and  preserves  our  bodies 
in  their  coherence,  and  Satan,  who  is  endeavoring  to 
destroy  our  integration,  we  shall  be  able  to  understand 
why  "Nature  works  the  cure".  That  portion  of  God 
which  I  call  my  soul,  since  it  began  to  particularize  itself 
as  me,  has  kept  about  it  a  certain  number  of  atoms 
making  up  my  body.  That  portion  of  the  Devil  which 
is  incarnated  in  me  has  always  been  trying  to  kill  me 
by  separating  those  atoms.  He  tries  to  starve  me,  but 
God  causes  food  to  be  taken  into  my  body  and  thereby 
builds  up  again  the  parts  which  Satan  has  destroyed. 
He  tries  to  poison,  bum,  cut,  tear,  or  otherwise  injure 
me  through  the  over-indulgence  of  my  appetites  or  the 
disobedience  of  the  voice  of  God  direc^ng  all  my  actions 
to  the  preservation  of  my  unity.  All  life-giving  and 
life-sustaining  motions  are  the  direct  work  of  my  God- 
assisted  soul.  All  sinful  and  deadly  energies  within  me 
that  tend  to  cause  my  disintegration  are  the  work  of 
God's  opposite.  Sickness,  pain,  anger,  malice,  laziness, 
and  rebellion  are  caused  by  the  Evil  Spirit.  When  God 
has  accomplished  the  purpose  that  He  had  in  particular- 
izing Himself  in  my  personality.  He  will  allow  Satan  a 
temporary  triumph,  and  old  age,  illness,  or  accident 

6x 


t 


kf  i! 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

will  be  permitted  to  bring  my  material  unity  to  an  end. 
We  believe,  however,  that  death,  or  the  temporary 
triumph  of  the  Disintegrator,  is  only  permitted  for  the 
purpose  of  being  overruled  to  the  production  of  a  higher 

unity. 

I  Epilepsy  is  one  of  the  peculiar  nervous  affections  in 
which  the  agency  of  the  external  spiritual  Energy  is 
most  clearly  demonstrated.  It  is,  in  most  cases, 
hereditary,  and  is  acknowledged  by  physicians  to  be 
frequently  the  result  of  consanguine  marriages,  or 
other  forms  of  imprudent  sexual  relationship.  It  is 
obviously  one  of  the  numerous  penalties  attached  to  sin, 
though  the  transgression  may  have  been  committed  by  a 
remote  ancestor,  or  by  the  person  himself  during  a 
former  existence  on  this  earth  or  on  the  moon  or  some 
other  planet  or  astral  sphere.  Viewed  from  a  material- 
istic standpoint,  we  discover  the  aura  or  premonitoty 
sensations,  the  sudden  fall,  the  foaming  and  convulsions 
and  the  succeeding  coma;  and  when  we  look  for  causes, 
we  find,  perhaps,  an  undue  irritation  or  excitement  of 
the  nerve  centres  of  the  posterior  portions  of  the  brain, 
nothing  beyond  this,  nothing  to  account  for  or  explain 
the  origin  of  the  abnormal  nerve-storm  or  disturbance. 
We  must  supply  the  primary  cause  from  the  region  of  the 
designing  and  spiritual  motive  energy  that  underlies  all 
disintegrating  evils  and  that,  with  its  opposing  good 
force,  uses  our  brains  as  a  mechanical  battle-field. 
Accordingly  we  may  state  the  question  thus ;  All  illness 
is  the  direct  or  indirect  effect  of  demoniacal  possession, 
but  epilepsy  is  that  form  of  it  in  which  the  cause  is  most 
apparent  to  the  public  mind.    We  would,  d  priori,  expect 

62 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

therefore  that,  if  our  theory  of  the  growth  of  the  God- 
power  in  the  man  Jesus  be  correct,  we  should  find 
Him  exercising  that  unifying  and  life-preserving  force  to 
restore  epileptics  as  setting  forth  to  the  common  people 
the  mercy  and  power  of  God,  and  we  should  expect  Him 
to  do  so  by  publicly  rebuking  the  Devil-power  as 
we  are  told  He  did.  If  the  skeptical  ask  how  Jesus 
wrought  the  cure,  we  reply  that  it  would  be  presump- 
tuous in  us  to  speak  dogmatically  or  positively  in  regard 
thereto;  but  we  may  with  reverence  point  out  several 
different  theories  arising  from  this  hypothesis  of  the 
triumph  of  imity,  or  condensation,  any  one  of  which  is 

quite  possible. 

(i)  Suppose  the  evil  to  have  been  the  result  of  a 
cerebral  lesion.  We  have  seen  that  Jesus  appeared  to 
have  the  power  of  transmuting  substances  by  the 
alteration  of  the  affinities  of  their  atoms.  The  breaking 
of  tissue  is  but  a  relaxation  of  either  chemical  affinity  or 
molecular  cohesion  or  both.  If  Jesus  had  attained  to 
sufficient  knowledge  of  God's  method  of  governing  all 
things  by  regulating  the  affinities  of  their  atoms,  it 
would  be  an  easy  matter  for  Him  to  alter  the  polarity 
of  the  molecules  disintegrated,  and  to  cause  thereby  an 
immediate  healing  of  the  lesion  and  the  consequent  cure 
of  the  epilepsy. 

(2)  If  the  evil  were  caused  by  the  hypersensitiveness 
of  some  portion  of  the  nervous  organism,  so  that  the 
undue  excitation  of  the  affected  part  caused  an  excessive 
discharge  of  nerve-energy,  the  problem  of  curing  the 
epilepsy  is  merely  the  difficulty  of  removing  the  ab- 
normal sensitiveness  of  the  part.    If  Jesus  knew  that 

63 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

all  nerve-force  was  but  the  material  manifestation  of  the 
spiritual  force  that  unites,  He  would  soon  learn  all  the 
details  of  the  application  of  that  spiritual  force  to  animal 
mechanism,  and  especially  to  the  construction  of  nerve 
tissue.  It  would  in  fact  be  as  clear  to  Him  as  all  other 
human  problems  are  to  us,  when  they  are  explained  and 
understood.  Diseases  are  mysterious  to  us  because  we 
know  so  little  about  them.  Their  mystery,  and  the  difficul- 
ties that  obscure  them,  will  vanish  as  God  reveals,  through 
scientific  or  other  channels  of  illumination,  the  methods 
by  which  His  primary  and  spiritual  forces  work.  We  be- 
lieve that  those  secrets  that  God  will  reveal  to  us  gradu- 
ally by  His  Holy  Spirit  working  through  poets,  physi- 
cians, inventors,  thinkers,  and  prophets,  He  revealed,  for 
his  own  wise  purposes,  immediately  and  directly  to  His 
only  begotten  Son  Jesus.  To  cure  the  sensitiveness  of 
a  certain  part  of  the  nervous  organism  might,  perhaps, 
only  require  the  removal,  by  an  adjustment  of  polarity, 
of  a  few-misplaced  molecules  in  the  lining  of  a  nerve. 
^  (3)  If  the  cause  of  epilepsy  be  not  some  morbid  con- 
dition of  nerve  tissue  or  brain  matter,  but  an  excess  of 
positive  over  negative  electric  discharge,  or  a  super- 
abundance of  negative  over  positive,  using  these  terms 
in  the  sense  which  is  at  present  unsatisfactorily  attached 
to  them,  how  simple  would  be  the  cure  in  the  hands 
of  one  who  could  supplement  the  defective  force  from 
His  own  body!  One  can  communicate  from  his  fingers 
an  electric  spark  of  sufficient  power  to  fire  a  gas  jet,  by 
brushing  his  feet  upon  a  hea\7  carpet.  With  what 
facility  then  could  He,  who  understood  the  inner  working 
of  the  spirit-force,  through  its  electric  material  mani- 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

festation,  add  to,  or  detract  from  the  amount  of  force 
or  energy  in  the  debilitated  or  overcharged  brain! 

We  do  not  presume  to  set  forth  any  one  of  these 
methods  as  that  adopted  by  the  Divine  Galilean.  It  is 
only  intended  to  indicate  how  many  simple  explanations 
could  be  given  of  His  cures  upon  this  theory  of  the 
special  revelation  of  Unity  or  Condensation.  To  Him  as 
the  only  begotten  Son  of  God  all  cures  lay  within  the 
range  of  what  we  call  natural  law,  not  by  the  contra- 
vention or  annihilation  of  those  uniformities  that  we 
see  everywhere  in  God*s  working,  but  in  harmonious 
accordance  with  these  laws,  and  by  means  of  an  extra- 
ordinary knowledge  of  the  conscious  vitality  that  under- 
lies them. 

In  the  instance  of  Simon's  wife's  mother  we  can  as 
readily  see  the  possibility  of  a  natural  cure,  as  in  the  case 
of  epilepsy.  Physicians  are  tracing  the  prime  cause 
of  many  fevers  to  a  disturbance  of  equilibrium  in  the 
heat-regulating  centres  of  the  brain.  The  God-power, 
who  adjusts  the  centrifugal  and  centripetal  forces  of 
the  planets  to  such  perfection  of  accuracy  that  their 
unity  in  a  system  is  preserved,  has  arranged  that 
the  amount  of  nerve-force  sent  from  the  brain  to 
the  various  parts  of  my  physical  organism  by  the 
vaso-motor  system  shall  be  so  exactly  measured 
and  distributed  that  there  shall  be  the  proper  tem- 
perature throughout  me  to  maintain  the  various 
functions  in  the  unity  of  a  system  which  I  call  my  body. 
The  Devil-power  wishes  to  disturb  the  adjustment  and 
thereby  to  make  me  too  hot.  When  the  Devil  tries  to 
kill  me  with  fever,  he  causes  a  rapid  flow  of  energy  to 


64 


65 


f*» 


II 
If 


' 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

the  muscles  of  my  heart.    The  latter  responds  by  pump- 
ing blood  too  rapidly  through  the  lungs,  where  it  ab- 
sorbs too  much  oxygen,  and  I  am  consequently  bumed. 
The  inhibitory  power  which  checks  the  excessive  oxy- 
genation of  my  system  allows  itself  to  be  defeated  for 
the  time.    There  may  be  cases  where  the  fever  owes  its 
existence  to  the  introduction  of  a  foreign  element  or  to 
some  form  of  germ  virus,  and  then  the  fever  symptoms 
may  be  looked  upon  as  the  effort  of  the  God-power  to 
expel  the  enemy,  and  so  preserve  my  unity.    In  either 
case  it  is  manifest  that  the  history  of  the  fever  is  the  story 
of  a  conflict  between  two  forces  outside  the  individual, 
and  that  their  contact  with  him  is  mediately  through 
the  brain.    The  common  notion  is  that  disease  germs 
are  living  organisms  which  come  into  contact  with  dead 
tissue,  enter  it,  make  it  their  home,  and  so  cause  all  the 
evil.    We  regard  everything  as  having  life.    There  is 
for  us  no  such  thing  as  dead  matter  or  tissue  that  is  not 
alive.    Minute  atoms,  which  are  filled  with  God  and 
Satan,  make  all  things  what  they  are  by  their  attractive- 
ness or  repulsiveness  towards  other  atoms.    All  animal 
tissues  are  living.*  When  the  God-power  desires  that 
I  shall  be  healthy  and  strong.  He  arranges  the  atoms  of 
my  body  so  that  they  have  no  afl&nity  for  what  are  called 
disease  germs.  ^  If  He  wishes  to  give  Satan  a  temporary 
triumph  over  my  unity  for  some  wise  purpose.  He  allows 
Himself  a'  relaxation  of  His  inhibitory  nerve-force,  and 
there  results  throughout  my  system  a  complete  change 
in  the  afl5nitie?  of  its  molecules  whereby  they  form  some 
kind  of  union  with  certain  particles  external  to  myself 
Ihat  medical  men  call  bacteria.    Whether  the  fever 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

be  idiopathic  and  spontaneously  originating  from  a  dis- 
turbance of  cerebral  adjustment,  or,  on  the  other  hand, 
symptomatic  and  arising  as  a  secondary  effect  of  some 
local  injury  of  the  body,  we  must  regard  its  true  cause 
as  a  change  in  the  chemical  or  electrical  affinity  of  atoms, 
which  change  is  brought  about  by  the  will  of  a  personal 
and  immanent  God  transmitted  from  the  seat  of  His 
transcendent  personality  in  Heaven  to  the  remote  and 
unimportant  fragment  of  Himself  known  to  us  as  the 
fever  patient.  If  we  believe  that  Jesus  possessed,  even 
to  a  shght  extent,  this  mighty  power  of  entering  into 
God's  inner  working,  will  it  not  be  credible  that 
the  touch  of  His  hand  cooled  at  once  the  parched 
frame,  that  the  soft  tones  of  His  voice  banished  the 
mutterings  of  delirium  ?  So  with  steady  pulse,  thrilling 
with  new  vitality,  Peter's  wife's  mother  rose   from  her 

bed  completely  cured.  i.   i.  •  u 

We  have  presented  to  us  now  the 'picture  of  the  bright 
proclamation  of  His  mission  on  the  shores  of  the 
Galilean  Lake.  We  see  Him  preaching  to  the  multi- 
tudes who  thronged  to  hear  the  new  prophet,  for  the 
fame  of  His  cures  had  spread  even  to  the  remote  parts 
of  Syria,  and  blessings,  soon  forgotten,  were  doubtless 
showered  upon  Him  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  various 
towns  of  Galilee  to  which  He  went  from  time  to  time, 
making  Capernaum  or  Bethsaida  His  headquarters. 
He  obtained  shelter  at  the  house  of  His  enthusiastic 
follower  Simon  Of  the  wonders  which  he  wrought 
in  Chorazin  and  Bethsaida  He  afterwards  Himself  spoke 
using  words  of  stem  denunciation  upon  the  inhabitants, 
who  had  not  repented,  whereas  the  people  of  Sodom  and 


66 


67 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

Gomorrah  would  have  done  so,  had  such  evidences  of 
God's  power  been  shown  to  them. 

There  is  a'so  here  the  incident  of  the  extraordinary 
draught  of  fishes,  which  requires  for  its  explanation 
only  the  superior  insight  of  one  that  could  detect  the 
presence  of  a  school  by  natural  signs  unobserved  by 
others  or  of  one  that  could  at  least  see  God's  instincts 
moving  these  tiny  creatures  in  search  of  food,  and 
attract  them  through  those  insHncts  to  the  neighborhood 
of  the  boats  of  the  weary  disciples. 

It  is  probable  that  Matthew  was  called  at  or  about 
this  time.  From  its  importance  as  a  commercia'  center 
we  may  fair'y  infer  that  there  would  be  in  Capernaum 
one  or  more  places  for  the  coPec^ion  of  taxes.  Matthew 
had  probably  heard  some  of  the  discourses  of  Our 
Saviour,  or  had  seen  His  remarkable  cures,  or  had  been 
won  by  His  great  compassion  for  the  poor  and  suflFering. 
It  may  be  that  Jesus  had  marked  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  tax-gatherer's  mien,  or  the  attentiveness 
with  which  he  listened.  Our  Lord  certainly  had  the 
highest  powers  of  character-reading,  and  the  conmiand 
"follow  me"  was  enough  to  induce  Matthew  to  leave 
a  lucrative  calling  without  a  moment's  hesitation  to 
follow  his  new  Master. 


Ml 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  SET  FORTH  IN  THE 

TEACHINGS  OF  CHRIST. 

After  calling  His  apostles  and  teaching  them  from 
day  to  day,  and  healing  the  multitudes  that  came  to 
Him  from  all  parts  of  Galilee  and  from  Decapolis  and 
Judea  and  from  beyond  Jordan,  He  delivered  to  them 
the  precepts  of  His  unifying  and  condensing  method 
on  one   of  the    peaks  of   a   neighboring  mountain. 
This  unique  discourse  contained  a  statement  of   the 
blessedness  of  all  things  which  make  for  unity.    The 
object  of  all  law  is  the  preservation  of  the  coherence 
either  of  the  individual  or  of  the  race.    Humility  or 
"poorness  of  spirit",  mourning  or  Godly  sorrow,  meek- 
ness, hunger  after  righteousness,  mercy,    pureness  of 
heart,  peacemaking,    endurance  of  persecution    and 
reviling  for  the  sake  of  righteousness,  all  these  are 
qualities  which  would  preserve  the  individual  and  the 
race  in  perfect  unity,  were  they  universal .    The  opposites 
of  these  are  disintegrating  energies,  which  destroy  the 
unity  of  men's  bodies  and  keep  man  from  man  and 
nation  from  nation.      These  are  pride,  revelling,  bold- 
ness, indifiference  to    right,    harshness,    impurity,   in- 
stigation of  strife,  retaliation  of  injuries.     Therefore 
Our  Lord  declared  blessings  upon  the  poor  in  spirit, 
the  meek,  and  those  who  followed  the  things  that  pro- 
mote and  preserve  unity. 


as 


69 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


Ill 
III 


Then  the  question  suggested  itself,  What  will  be 
the  relationship  of  these  neyv  ideas  to  the  venerable  Law 
that  was  given  on  Mount  Sinai,  not  with  words  of  gentle 
love  like  these,  but  with  the  awful  signs  of  God's  pres- 
ence in  the  natural  phenomenon  of  thunder  and  hght- 
ning  ?  Anticipating  perhaps  this  thought  in  the  minds 
of  His  hearers,  Jesus  said,  "  Think  not  that  I  am  come 
to  destroy  the  Law  or  the  prophets.  I  am  not  come  to 
destroy  but  to  fulfil.  For  verily  I  say  unto  you,  till 
Heaven  and  earth  pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no 
wise  pass  from  the  Law,  till  all  be  fulfilled."  The 
new  "Kingdom  of  Heaven"  that  He  had  come  to 
found  should  then  be  a  continuation  of  the  old  covenant 
and  a  fulfihnent  thereof.  Its  supreme  law  should  be 
Love;  and  in  the  appHcation  of  that  law,  its  members 
should  have  various  degrees  of  perfection.  He  that 
was  most  loving,  and  holy,  and  the  greatest  in  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven  would  naturally  keep  all  the  ordinances 
of  the  Law. 

The  crowning  distinction  between  the  old  dispensation 
and  the  new  lay  in  the  doctrine  of  non-resistance: 

"Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said.  An  eye  for  an 
eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth.  But  I  say  unto  you  that 
ye  resist  not  evil;  but  whosoever  shall  smite  thee  on  thy 
right  cheek,  turn  to  him  the  other  also.  And  if  any 
man  will  sue  thee  at  the  law,  and  take  away  thy  coat,  let 
him  have  thy  cloak  also.  And  whosoever  shall  compel 
thee  to  go  a  mile,  go  with  him  twain.  Give  to  him  that 
asketh  thee,  and  from  him  that  would  borrow  of  thee 
turn  not  thou  away. .,  Ye  have  heard  that  it  hath  been 
said,  Thou  shah  love  thy  neighbor  and  hate  thine 


70 


THE  PHH^OSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

enemy.  But  I  say  unto  you.  Love  your  enemies ;  bless 
them  that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and 
pray  for  them  which  despitefully  use  you  and  persecute 

you."  1  .     1 

There  can  be  no  misunderstanding  such  plam  lan- 
guage, except  by  the  wilful  closing  of  the  eyes  to  un- 
pleasant truth.    Tolstoy  and  others  are  right  in  teach- 
ing that  any  religion   which  encourages  war  of  na- 
tions or  of  individuals  is  not  the  reUgion  of  Jesus.    We 
have  no  right  to  affirm  that  Christ  did  not  mean  us  to 
take  these  words  literally.    He  lived  up  to  them  Him- 
self, and  His  Apostles  and  early  followers  did  likewise. 
These  principles,  and  these  only,  will  promote  unity,  the 
goal  to  which  the  universe  is  being  drawn.    Everything 
in  this  world  must  be  brought  into  oneness,  and  every 
planet  or  sphere  in  God's  Creation  must  be  united  to 
our  Uttle  earth  in  Heaven.    The  law  given  through 
Moses  to  men  was  external  pressure  preserving  unity. 
Men  were  to  be  compelled  by  a  power  without  them- 
selves to  act  in  such  a  manner  that  they  might  co-exist 
as  a  social  and  national  unit.    The  first  four  command- 
ments provide  for  the  worship  of  the  Supreme  Power. 
The  fifth  secures  the  maintenance  of  family  unity. 
Murder,   adultery,  theft,  false  witness,  covetousness, 
which  are  forbidden  by  the  remaining  clauses  of  the 
Decalogue,  are  the  most  obvious  disintegrating  influ- 
ences that  threaten  social  coherence.    Love,  the  Gospel 
of  the  New  Eangdom,  should  preserve  unity  by  internal 
yearning  for  coherence.  Men  should  be  drawn  by  some- 
thing within  themselves  to  act  as  the  external  power  had 
before  commanded,  and  should  fulfil  the  Law,  not  be- 


71 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

cause  it  was  commanded  but  because  they  now  desired 
and  deliberately  chose  that  path  of  duty  which  had 
become  dear  to  them  through  a  renewal  of  their  nature. 
They  thus  from  internal  bias  should  choose  the  things 
which  make  for  unity.    The  Law,  therefore,  is   the 
pressure  of  men  into  unity  from  outside;  the  Gospel  is 
the  drawing  of  men  into  unity  by  the  living  centre.   The 
latter  will  exceed  the  former  many  times  over  in   co- 
hering power.    While  the  former  prohibited  murder, 
the  latter  will  gradually  annihilate  all  anger  and  hate, 
which  keep  men  apart  and  divide  them,  even  though 
they  be  not  carried  to  the  length  of  totally  disintegrating 
the  unity  of  the  individual   by  murder.    The  Law 
had  forbidden  adultery,  which  disintegrated  the  family, 
separating  husband  and  wife  and  scattering  their  off- 
spring. ^  The  Gospel  forbids  the  secret  thought  of  evil, 
the  continuous  life  of  mental  impurity,  which  injures  the 
nervous  system  and  impairs  the  individual's  bodily 
unity.    The  Law  had  provided  that  strict  justice  should 
be  meted  out  to  the  wrongdoer,  in  order  that  men  could 
live  together  in  a  community  and  be  secure  as  to  their 
lives  and  property;  but  Jesus  taught  that  he  that  would 
be  perfect  as  the  Father  in  Heaven  is  perfect  must  be 
willing  to  sacrifice  his  life  or  property  for  the  cause  of 
unity;  and  that  to  those  that  would  give  themselves 
up  to  the  "perfect  law  of  love",  their  unity  with 
the  centre  of  the  universe  through  His  only  begotten 
Son  Jesus,   should  be  a  full  and  abundant  reward; 
and,  furthermore,  that  they  should  in  time  have,  as 
an    indirect    consequence    thereof,    perfect    oneness 
with  their  fellow-men  and  a  consequent  peace  that 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

should  pass  the  understanding  of  those  not   expe- 
riencing it.  ,     ,j  u 

As  the  one  law  of  the  new  kmgdom  should  be  more 
searching  and  effective  than  the  many  precepts  of  the 
old  dispensation,  so  its  followers  should  be  distinguished 
from  the  scribes  and  pharisees  by  their  secret  and  in- 
ward adherence  to  it.  Their  alms  must  not  be  given 
publicly,  and  their  prayers  should  be  offered  in  private 
rather  than  with  the  false  assumption  of  outward, 
pious  observances.  He  then  gave  them  our  "Lord*s 
Prayer",  which  many  men  assert  would  have  proved 
His  Divinity  to  their  minds,  if  He  had  never  said  or  done 
anything  beside.  It  is  an  epitome  of  the  Gospel  of 
Unity  or  Condensation.  Addressing  God  as  our  Father 
we  incidentally  affirm  His  personality,  creatorship,  and 
love  for  us.  We  locate  the  seat  of  His  consciousness  in 
the  central  sphere  of  the  universe,  when  we  add  "which 
art  in  Heaven".  In  order  that  men  may  be  united  in 
love  to  Him  they  must  reverence  His  name.  We  pray 
for  the  final  coming  of  His  completed  Kingdom,  for  the 
day  when  all  men  shall  be  united  in  perfect  brother- 
hood, and  when  all  nations  shall  be  federated,  and  God's 
will  shall  be  done  on  the  earth  as  it  is  now  done  on  the 
central  sphere.  "  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread"  is 
intended  to  teach  man  that  in  the  maintenance  of  his 
bodily  unity  by  food  he  is  dependent  upon  his  oneness 
with  God,  but  that  he  can  rely  upon  that  Heavenly 
unity  to  supply  him  with  the  means  of  preserving  his 
material  integrity,  from  day  to  day,  and  that  he 
should  not  look  beyond  that,  lest  in  his  anxiety  to 
care  for  his  earthly  imity  he  might  disturb  his  unity 


7« 


73 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

with  God.  We  ask  J  that  our  trespasses  may  be 
forgiven,  or,  that  our  departures  from  oneness  with 
God's  will  may  be  overlooked,  and  that  we  may  be 
admitted  back  into  God's  unity,  urging  at  the  same 
time  the  fact  that  we  are  willing  to  be  united  in 
brotherly  love  with  all  that  may  have  departed  from 
loving  unity  with  us.  We  ask  in  conclusion  that  God 
will  not  leave  us  in  circumstances  which  threaten  our 
bodily  and  spiritual  integrity,  and  that  He  will  deliver 
us  from  the  Disintegrator. 

Continuing  His  discourse  in  language  that  has  never 
been  surpassed  in  loftiness  and  beauty.  He  warned  them 
against  ceremonious  fasting  in  public,  carefulness  for 
the  things  of  this  world,  hasty  judgment  of  others, 
neglect  or  distrust  of  prayer,  and  false  prophets,  who 
should  come  with  an  exterior  of  piety,  but  whose  fruits 
should  show  them  to  be  inwardly  vile  and  destructive. 
Lastly,  He  urged  them  to  carry  out  the  principles  of  the 
Gospel  of  Unity  in  their  Uves.  If  they  were  doers  of 
His  word,  they  should  be  like  a  man  who  builded  a  house 
on  a  soHd  foundation;  and  when  disintegrating  floods 
came,  they  could  not  break  the  unity  of  the  structure. 
But  if  those  that  heard  departed  from  and  ceased  to  carry 
out  these  principles  to  action,  they  were  Hke  a  man  who 
built  on  sand;  and  when  the  rain  came  and  the  winds 
blew,  the  building  was  broken  with  a  great  fall. 

After  He  descended  from  the  mountain,  there  met 
Him  a  leper  crying,  "Lord,  if  thou  wilt,  thou  canst 
make  me  clean."  Leprosy  was  a  recognized  type  of 
sin.  It  was  a  visible  disintegrator  of  the  skin  and 
bones,  a  loathsome  gradual  separation  of  cohering  atom  s 


74 


f!  I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

of  the  body.  $,  It  was  transferable  by  contagion.^When 
we  think  how  minute  a  germ  inoculated  into  one's  sys- 
tem will  produce  in  time  such  disastrous  results,  we  can 
easily  imagine  that,  through  the  inoculation  of  the  op- 
posite principle  by  contact,  a  unifying  and  building- 
up  process  might  be  begun  that  would  in  time  cure 
the  leprosy.    We  can  further  beheve  that,  if  Jesus  im- 
derstood  Satan's  disintegrating  principle  in  all  its  work- 
ings and  was,  to  some  extent,  master  of  the  cohering 
force  of  God's  working.  He  could  by  His  touch  not  only 
communicate  one  germ  of  unifying  power  that  would 
require  time  to  propagate  itself  and  effect  a  cure,  but 
also  at  once  impart  as  many  germs  or  degrees  of  the 
uniting  force  as  would  be  necessary  to  vitalize   and 
purify    every    atom    of   the   man's    diseased    frame 
instantaneously.    Our  Lord's  touch  of  the  leper  was  a 
breach  of  the  Jewish  Law,  but  it  was  a  vindication  of  the 
New  Gospel  of  Unity.    The  object  of  the  law  was  to 
preserve  the  unity  of  the  State  and  the  material  unity 
of  the  individual.    Yet  in  the  case  of  leprosy  the  Law 
was  powerless  to  check  disintegration.  Its  hygienic  reg- 
ulations only  aimed  at  preventing  the  spread  of  the  dis- 
ease.   Here  was  a  case  where  contact  would  not  lead  to 
disintegration  but  to  unity.   Hence  Jesus  broke  the  Law, 
because  He  superseded  its  working  by  a  more  effective 
power.    He  took  pains  however  to  show  His  regard  for 
the  Levitical  usage,  by  ordering  the  man^to  go  to  the 
priest  and  make  the  accustomed  offering ^and  secure 
his  guarantee  of  cleanness..-  > 

From  Capernaum  Jesus  went  to  Nain     His  res- 
toration of  the  widow's  son  was  the  greats t  exercise 


75 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


I'  11 


hi 


m 


lilt 


1 


I 


i 

\ 


ot  His  new  powers  He  had  yet  attempted.  Wonder- 
ful as  it  seems  that  a  man  should  have  power  to  bring 
back  breath  to  the  lungs,  circulation  to  the  coagulated 
blood,  and  vitality  to  the  lifeless  body,  we  have  seen  that 
His  previous  miracles  clearly  prophesied  this,  the  great- 
est of  them  all.  We  have  observed  that,  upon  our  hy- 
pothesis of  condensation  or  unity  all  life  is  a  continuous 
inhalation  towards  the  centre  of  the  universe;  that  no 
other  rational  explanation  of  it  can  be  given  than  the  in- 
dwelling of  the  World-Spirit  throughout  His  creation; 
that  life  is  His  breath  of  cohering  love,  known  to  us  as 
chemical  affinity,  molecular  cohesion,  and  gravitation 
in  its  lower  aspects,  and  as  beauty,  goodness,  and 
truth  in  its  higher.  By  love  Jesus  rescued  the  son  of 
the  widow  of  Nain  from  incipient  disintegration,  even 
as  by  love  He  is  now  raising  the  whole  race  from  death 
unto  life,  from  diversity  into  unity,  from  antagonisms 
of  race,  color,  sex,  creed,  and  prejudice  to  the  unity 
of  a  single  man— Himself.  It  would  require  but  a  few 
germs  of  the  cohering  force  to  repair  the  injured 
machinery  of  the  young  man's  body,  and  to  set  to 
work  again  the  streams  of  living  animals  that  collec- 
tively we  call  blood,  thinking  its  teeming  millons  are 
one  substance,  because  our  eyes  are  too  clumsy  to  per- 
ceive their  differences  and  their  tiny  operations.  The 
blood  is  the  whole  body.  Some  of  the  little  animals 
group  themselves  together,  form  a  society  of  their  own, 
elect  their  rulers,  arrange  the  laws  and  constitution  of 
their  active  commonwealth,  and  we  call  them  bone. 
Other  little  towns  and  cities  we  call  nerve  and  mus- 
cle, skin  and  hair.    The  real  cause  of  all  these  won- 

76 


derful  proceedings,  the  presence  of  the  Omnipotent 
God,  is  ignored.  The  mystery  is  explained  by  one 
word,  "secretion"!  The  wise  men  that  explain  every- 
thing by  science  are  apparently  quite  satisfied  with 
themselves  when  they  declare  that  the  various  parts  of 
the  body  secrete  their  elements  from  the  blood.  Why, 
we  ask,  do  they  so  secrete  ?  Why  do  the  atoms  unite 
together  in  a  certain  way  to  form  nerve,  and  in  a  dif- 
ferent way  to  form  flesh  ?  They  cannot  answer.  They 
say  something  about  the  "laws  of  nature",  and  dismiss 
the  subject  to  the  realms  of  metaphysics,  or  theology,  or 
poetry. 

As  our  object  is  not  to  give  a  complete  exposition  of 
the  life  of  Jesus,  but  merely  to  apply  to  its  main  features 
our  hypothesis  of  the  triumph  of  unity  or  condensation 
as  an  explanatory  and  corroborative  theory,  we  may 
here  consider  the  other  two  instances  in  which  He  exer- 
cised His  supreme  power  of  restoring  the  dead  to  life. 
The  case  of  Jairus's  daughter  resembles  that  which  we 
have  just  been  considering,  inasmuch  as  the  body  was 
in  each  case  probably  still  in  a  state  of  unity.  It  is  not 
likely  that  mortification  had  set  in.  When  death 
occurs  from  the  loss  of  respiration,  or  the  stoppage  of 
the  heart,  either  gradually  or  suddenly,  without  any 
breaking  of  the  machinery  of  the  physical  system,  we 
would  imagine  the  possibility  of  resurrection  to  be  the 
easiest  of  accomplishment.  It  would  involve  the  mere 
stimulation  of  the  respiratory  centres  or  of  the  centres 
which  control  the  nerves  giving  action  to  the  muscles 
of  the  heart,  and  then,  to  prevent  relapse,  the  removal 
of  the  cause  of  the  stoppage  of  vitality.    In  a  few  seconds 


77 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

the  impoverished  blood  might  be  replenished  by  lively 
corpuscular  inhabitants,  and  the  work  of  renewing  and 
building  up  the  tissues  of  the  whole  body  actively 
begun. 

Many  incline  to  the  opinion,  from  the  description 
given  of  the  raising  of  Jairus's  daughter,  that  the  damsel 
was  only  in  a  trance,  that  Jesus  referred  to  this  when 
He  told  them  that  the  girl  was  not  dead  but  sleeping. 
It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to  accept  His  words 
literally,  especially  when  we  are  told  that  the  onlookers 
knew  that  she  was  dead.  We  are  not  informed  in 
either  case  as  to  the  cause  of  death. 

The  restoration  of  Lazarus  was  doubtless  a  more 
comphcated  process,  as  mortification  had  already  set  in. 
As  soon  as  the  integrity  of  the  system  is  loosened  by 
what  we  call  death,  the  microscopic  inhabitants  of  the 
little  bodily  universe  begin  to  look  about  preparatory 
to  migrating.  They  separate  in  different  directions, 
each  one  following  some  law  of  attraction  in  accordance 
with  its  own  nature  and  of  its  own  choice.  Most  of 
them  go  away  in  such  tiny  and  loose  forms  that  we 
cannot  see  them,  and,  though  we  give  the  name  of  some 
gas  to  the  collective  exodus,  we  are  only  veiling  our 
ignorance  of  their  real  proceedings,  and  purposes, 
and  motives,  by  clumsily  giving  them  a  title.  Yet  to 
one  who  has  been  let  into  the  secret  of  these  little 
microbes  and  germs,  and  of  their  motives  and  affinities, 
how  easy  would  it  be  to  check  mortification!  The  little 
animals  must  be  made  to  stay  at  home.  There  is  a 
trifling  step  from  repulsion  to  attraction.  It  merely 
involves  a  change  of  polarity.    To  one  admitted  by  the 

78 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

Ruler  of  all,  who  governs  the  universe  from  Heaven 
by  this  one  law  of  polarity,  into  the  consciousness  of 
His  identity  with  that  Ruler's  own  Godhead  and  methods, 
how  easy  would  it  be  to  check  the  disintegration  of  the 
body,  to  bid  its  inhabitants  once  more  take  up  their 
places  in  the  system,  and,  having  the  brain  and  bodily 
machinery  again  in  running  order,  to  call  back  the  de- 
parted spirit  to  take  possession  in  the  words,  "Lazarus 

come  forth!" 

There  are  two  important  incidents  in  our  Lord's  life 
that  we  must  not  pass  over  without  comment.  These 
are  the  feeding  of  the  multitudes  and  the  transfiguration. 
In  regard  to  the  first  of  these,  we  need  only  point  out 
the  connection  between  it  and  Christ's  temptation  to 
change  stones  into  bread  and  the  subsequent  proof  of 
His  ability  to  transmute  substances  in  the  changing  of 
water  into  wine.  The  fact  that  Jesus  was  able  to  feed 
five  thousand  people  with  a  few  loaves  and  fishes,  and 
that  the  fragments  left  over  were  more  than  the  original 
amount  of  food,  should,  in  view  of  our  d  priori  ex- 
pectation from  what  had  gone  before,  satisfy  us  that 
Jesus  actually  transformed  the  elements  about  Him 
directly  into  food,  as,  we  anticipate,  all  men  will  in  the 
distant  future  be  able  to  do.  Of  the  Transfiguration 
we  will  speak  further  in  the  Chapter  on  the  "Place  of 
Departed  Spirits." 

The  time  was  now  drawing  nigh  for  the  final  proclama- 
tion of  the  Kingdom  of  Peace.  Since  the  first  visit  to 
Jerusalem,  Jesus  had  traversed  Galilee,  Judaea,  Ituraea, 
and  Peraea,  preaching  the  good  news  of  unity  with  God, 
restoring  the  unity  of  diseased  bodies,  and  performing 
other  works  of  mercy. 

79 


•IPMIIIIII 


u 


•l 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

He  had  chosen  and  trained  twelve  Apostles,  to  whom 
He  would  entrust  the  proclamation  of  His  religion  and 
the  organization  of  His  Church.  He  had  called  together 
seventy  followers  and  sent  them  out,  by  twos,  to  an- 
nounce the  establishment  of  the  new  era  and  to  awaken 
universal  interest  and  arouse  expectation.  The  Pass- 
over was  again  drawing  nigh;  and  now  the  whole  atten- 
tion of  Palestine  was  centred  on  Him,  and  awaiting  the 
assumption  of  His  rule. 

After  a  journey  through  Peraea,  He  arrived  at  Bethany, 
on  the  East  side  of  the  Mount  of  OHves,  and  took  up 
his  residence  at  the  house  of  Martha  and  Mary  where 
He  made  His  home  for  the  few  remaining  days  of  His 
life  on  earth.  His  arrival  occurred  on  the  evening  of 
Friday,  the  eighth  day  of  Nisan,  March  31st,  A.  D.  30. 
It  is  Hkely  that  many  of  the  pilgrims  coming  through 
Peraea,  on  their  way  to  the  Passover  Feast  at  Jerusalem, 
had  attached  themselves  to  His  train,  and  some  of  these 
would  probably  erect  booths  and  tents  on  the  West 
slope  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  to  wait  for  His  trium- 
phant entry  into  the  city.  Others  would,  doubtless,  go 
forward  into  Jerusalem,  where  they  might  have  had 
friends  with  whom  they  could  lodge  during  the  Passover 
Week  or  obtain  sheher  at  the  inns  and  hostelries;  and 
these  would  probably  carry  on  the  word  that  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  had  come  down  through  Peraea,  and  had 
made  a  halt  outside  the  city,  at  Bethany. 

The  following  day,  being  Saturday,  the  Jewish 
Sabbath,  was  spent  in  quiet  retirement  with  His  friends 
and,  in  the  evening,  some  of  His  followers  were  invited 
to  ^nter  the  house  and  partake  of  supper.    Lazarus, 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

being  himself  a  living  attestation  of  the  Divine  powers 
of  the  Galilean,  would  be  looked  upon  with  great  in- 
terest by  the  assembling  pilgrims,  and,  no  doubt,  his 
presence  converted  many  of  the  skeptical,  and  made 
them  join  the  train.  The  fact  that  Matthew  and  Mark 
speak  of  this  feast  as  having  taken  place  at  the  house 
of  Simon  the  Leper  may  not  be  difficult  to  understand. 
Simon  may  have  been  the  father  of  Mary  and  Martha 
and  Lazarus,  a  man  fairly  well  known,  who  had  either 
died  of  leprosy,  or  had  been  removed  from  home  on 
account  of  it,  so  that  the  house  would  be  known  as  that 
of "  Simon  the  Leper",  though  it  was  now  occupied  only 
by  his  children. 

'  During  the  feast  occurred  the  singular  act  of  annoint- 
ing  which  was  so  fitting  at  this  juncture.  On  the  mor- 
row Jesus  was  to  proceed  into  the  city  and  proclaim 
Himself  the  Messiah,  a  prophet,  priest,  and  king. 
These  three  offices  were  included  in  His  title  of  "The 
Christ",  the  annointed  one.  It  was  the  annointing  of 
a  prophet,  who  should  foretell  to  men  their  destiny,  and 
at  the  same  time,  provide  the  way  to  accomplish  it, 
namely,  the  unity  of  all  men  on  the  earth  by  means  of 
their  growing  communion  with  the  one  God  and  Father 
of  all.  It  was  the  annointing  of  mankind's  great  High 
Priest,  who  should  soon  offer  up  Himself  as  an  "at-one- 
ment",  a  sacrifice,  Holy,  and  undefiled,  and  acceptable 
to  God,  in  full  payment  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world, 
and  thereby  should  fulfil  all  the  symbols  and  types  given 
to  men  through  the  Mosaic  dispensation,  and  who  should 
enter  into  the  veil  on  Calvary,  and  sit  down  on  the  right 
hand  of  God,  the  Father,  evermore  to  intercede  for  us. 


8q 


81 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

It  was  the  annointing  of  the  King  of  the  Jews,  their 
Deliverer,  for  whose  advent  they  had  been  hoping  with 
an  expectation  which  had  deepened  in  its  intensity 
since  their  return  from  exile,  and  which  reached  its 
climax  precisely  at  the  time  of  this  particular  Passover. 
We  see,  from  the  anxiety  of  the  chief  priests,  the  popular- 
ity that  was  beginning  to  surround  our  Lord. 

There  was  present  at  the  feast  one  whose  sordid 
nature  was  to  be  the  DeviPs  instrument  in  the  coming 
disintegration.  Judas,  who  carried  the  money  bags, 
cried  out  at  the  sight  of  so  generous  a  gift  outpoured 
upon  the  Master.  Then,  to  excuse  himself,  he  im- 
mediately began  to  assume  an  excessive  regard  for  the 
poor.  Our  Lord,  reading  the  working  of  his  mind,  re- 
buked him,  and  commended  Mary  for  what  she  had 
done:  "Why  trouble  ye  the  woman?  Let  her  alone. 
She  hath  wrought  a  good  work  upon  me,  in  that  she  did 
it  for  my  burying.  For  ye  have  the  poor  always  with 
you  but  me  ye  have  not  always."  These  words  are  of 
the  utmost  importance  here,  because  they  show  that 
Jesus,  while  about  to  make  His  triumphal  entry  on  the 
morrow,  was  perfectly  aware  of  the  result.  He  knew 
that  death  awaited  Him.  Any  merely  earthly  reformer 
would  not  have  so  discouraged  his  followers,  at  such  a 
critical  moment,  even  if  he  foresaw  an  unfavorable  and 
fatal  reception.  It  is  the  occurrence  of  ingenuous  re- 
marks Uke  this,  when  viewed  with  the  whole  tenor  of 
His  Hfe,  which  renders  it  so  highly  improbable  that  He 
could  have  been  merely  a  reformer  that  designed  to  set 
up  an  earthly  kingdom  and,  having  failed,  was  crucified 
for  high  treason.    He  had,  on  several  occasions,   fore- 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

told  His  death,  and  had,  doubtless,  known  perfectly 
how  He  would  be  treated,  ever  since  He  had  read  the 
description  of  His  end  given  by  Isaiah  in  his  Fifty- 
third  Chapter. 

Either  through  pique  at  this  rebuke,  or  because  it  had 
been  in  his  mind  for  some  time,  Judas  that  night  stole 
out  on  his  base  purpose  of  betrayal.  Having  made  his 
way  to  Jerusalem  and  obtained  access  to  the  house 
of  Caiaphas,  he  found  willing  purchasers  for  his 
treachery.  The  unholy  compact  was  soon  completed. 
His  Lord  was  sold  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver,  and  the 
wretched  incarnation  of  the  Evil  Spirit  made  his  way 
back  through  the  darkness,  out  over  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  to  the  loving  companions  who  still  trusted  him. 

We  can  imagine  the  stir  and  enthusiasm  about 
Bethany  early  on  the  following  morning.  There  would 
be  intense  excitement,  especially  amongst  those  who 
most  firmly  believed  Jesus  to  be  the  Messiah  and  who 
looked  for  the  immediate  inauguration  of  that  wonder- 
ful period  about  which  the  wildest  fancies  existed. 

Those  who  had  been  associated  with  Our  Lord  in  His 
triumphant  march  through  the  country  wherein  He 
proclaimed  Himself  the  Messiah,  and  attested  His  claim 
by  the  very  acts  which  the  people  expected  to  take  place 
in  the  New  Dispensation,  such  as  healing  the  lame  and 
blind  and  leprous,  would  confidently  look  for  the  other 
wonderful  proceedings  that  the  prophets  had  foretold 
and  the  Rabbis  exaggerated.  They  would  look  towards 
the  top  of  the  Mount  of  OUves  and  expect  to  see  the 
peaks  of  Carmel,  Tabor,  and  Sinai  closing  in  on  them 
with  clouds  from  the  North  and  West.    They  would  be 


82 


83 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


S 


all  impatient  to  rush  into  the  city,  expecting  its  houses 
to  rise  by  some  kind  of  fairy  magic  to  the  height  of  three 
miles.  We  can  scarcely  place  ourselves  in  a  frame  of 
mind  to  understand  their  feelings.  Even  the  dullest 
and  most  skeptical  would  yield  to  the  mesmeric  attrac- 
tion of  accumulated  excitement.  We  would  expect  that 
as  the  procession  began  towards  the  city,  the  people, 
having  become  almost  mad  with  frenzy,  would  strip  ofiF 
their  garments  and  throw  them  down  for  Him  to  walk 
upon;  and  others  would  tear  off  branches  from  the  trees 
and  strew  them  in  the  path  of  the  conqueror,  shouting 
the  words  of  the  familiar  Messianic  psalm,  "Hosanna 
to  the  Son  of  David!  Blessed  is  He  that  cometh  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  Hosanna  in  the  Highest!"  They 
were  soon  joined  by  others  who  came  out  from  the  city 
to  meet  the  procession,  and  "those  who  went  before" 
joined  the  songs  of  those  "who  followed  after".  In 
order  to  fulfil  the  prophecies  of  Zachariah  and  Isaiah, 
"Tell  ye  the  daughter  of  Zion,  Behold,  thy  King  cometh 
unto  thee,  meek,  and  sitting  upon  an  ass  and  a  colt  the 
foal  of  an  ass  "  Jesus  sent  forward  two  of  His  disciples 
to  Bethphage,  with  instructions  to  bring  Him  such  an 
animal  and  her  foal  which  He  had  caused  to  be  placed 
in  waiting,  or  that,  by  His  Divine  power  of  omniscience, 
He  had  discerned  to  be  there.  Thus,  not  only  was  a 
peculiar  prophecy  fulfilled,  but  the  world  was  given  an 
everlasting  picture  of  an  ideal  triumph.  It  was  not  the 
proud  steed,  but  the  lowly  beast  of  burden,  the  object, 
like  Himself  and  His  Church,  of  contempt,  ridicule,  or 
pity,  which  should  bear  the  conqueror.  Already  we 
have  reached  the  stage  when  the  noblest  minds  of  all 


races  honor  the  humble  procession  of  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  and  despise,  as  remains  of  a  disappearing  bar- 
barism, the  gorgeous  pageantry  of  conquering  brute 
force.  It  may  be  asked,  however,  why  Jesus,  who  knew 
that  He  would  not  inaugurate  the  earthly  Kingdom 
which  His  followers  expected,  did  not  tell  them  so. 
We  reply  that  on  many  occasions  He  did,  but  they  could 
not  understand  Him.  The  minds  of  the  Jews  were  so 
moulded  by  their  surroundings,  and  previous  history, 
that  they  could  form  no  other  conception  of  the  Messiah 
than  that  of  an  earthly  conqueror  whose  Kingdom 
should  be  one  of  national  majesty ,  with  Palestine  as  its 
centre.  He  had  tried  to  teach  them  that  the  Kingdom 
of  God  was  internal  and  spiritual.  It  was  something 
different  from  what  they  expected.  It  would  work 
silently  like  leaven,  until,  by  contact,  it  influenced  the 
whole  world.  Even  the  most  faithful  amongst  them 
failed  to  grasp  His  meaning.  We  see  this  in  the  foolish, 
but  pardonable  anxiety  of  the  mother  of  Zebedee's 
children,  that  her  boys,  who  hadbeen  granted  the  most 
intimate  personal  association  with  the  Master,  should 
sit,  the  one  on  His  right  hand,  the  other  on  His  left,  when 
He  came  into  His  Kingdom.  To  us,  who  look  back 
over  the  centuries,  the  skein  of  History  is  becoming 
fairly  well  unravelled.  We  can  now  infer,  with  a 
tolerable  degree  of  probability,  the  future  course,  in  out- 
line at  least,  of  mankind's  development.  We  can  see 
the  drift  of  all  things  towards  unity,  the  gradual  con- 
vergence, under  the  Holy  Spirit,  of  all  nations  towards  a 
universal  federation,  and  the  reign  of  absolute  brother- 
hood, through  Christ,  upon  this  earth.    We  can  further 

85 


1 


I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


see  ahead  the  inevitable  rebuildingof  Jerusalem,  when  the 
minds  of  all  men  develop  in  the  consciousness  of  their 
unity  with  Jesus,  which  is  involved  in  the  conception  of 
the  Church  as  His  body,  and  when  the  hearts  of  all  men  go 
out  in  love  to  Palestine  the  abode  of  the  individual  in- 
carnation of  the  World-Spirit  and  the  coming  centre 
of  the  united  Race-Personality.  The  ParUament  of 
the  federated  nations  of  the  world,  it  would  appear, 
must  be  at  Jerusalem.  It  is  claimed  by  many  that  the 
Jewish  people  are  particularly  adapted  to  be  interna- 
tional arbitrators.  Looking  back  over  the  working  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  which  some  men  inadequately  call  a 
"stream  of  tendency,"  wc  can  understand  the  exact 
place  of  the  first  coming  of  Christ.  We  can  also  imagine 
that  the  prophecies,  which  the  people  then  expected  to 
come  to  pass  immediately,  will,  in  most  respects,  be  ful- 
filled at  the  second  Advent,  which  will  be  the  cHmax  of 
our  historical  development.  The  poor  Jews,  however, 
in  the  Saviour's  time,  could  only  take  the  view  which 
they  did.  Our  higher  and  broader  vision  was  then  en- 
tirely beyond  them;  and  Jesus  did  not  attempt  to  force 
men  to  see  what  by  their  nature  and  circumstances  they 
could  not  see.  Hence  He  gave  them  teachings  in  parables 
and  generahties,  so  that  succeeding  generations  would 
understand  them  in  the  light  of  what  followed,  and  would 
know  that  He  had  held  the  whole  plan  clearly  in 
His  mind  all  the  while. 

As  the  procession  reached  the  point  where  the  road 
sweeps  around  the  Mountain,  and  Jerusalem  lay  before 
them,  the  Saviour  became  overpowered  by  emotion. 
He  was  not  only  a  real  man  but  a  real  Hebrew.    He 

86 


loved  His  race  and  the  city  of  His  people.    He  doubtless, 
recalled  the  visits  paid  in  His  childhood  to  the  Temple 
and  the  many  subsequent  journeys  to  the  Feasts  in  the 
Holy  City.    Thoughts  of  His  fond  pride,  His  youthful 
patriotism,  thronged  upon  Him.    The  intense  yearning 
of  His  heart  for  sympathy,  the  outflowing  of  His  Divine 
love  for  His  selfish  and  ignorant  brothers  moved  Him 
with  mingled  longing  and  compassion.    Above  all,  the 
proud  majesty  of  the  magnificent  city,  then  the  wonder 
of  men,  soon  to  be  humbled  to  the  very  dust  by  the 
Romans,— the  awful  horrors  of  the  siege  of  Titus  rush- 
ing before  His  prophetic  vision,— scenes  frightful  enough 
to  make  the  reader  shudder  after  nineteen  centuries — 
a  doomed  Jerusalem  driven  on  by  the  Devil  to  work 
out  her  own   destruction,  through  the  hard-hearted 
stupidity   with   which    the    Disintegrator    filled    her 
people,  —  these   and   many    other    thoughts   rushed 
through  His  mind  and  shook  His  frame  with  waves  of 
bitterest  emotion.    None  but  a  brutal  heart  can  watch 
this  picture  unmoved.    The  infinite  pathos  of  His  cry 
has  no  parallel  in  history :    "Oh  1  Jerusalem !  Jerusalem  1 
Thou  that  killest  the  prophets,  and  stonest  them  that 
are  sent  imto  thee,  how  often  would  I  have  gathered  thy 
children  together  as  a  hen  doth  gather  her  brood  under 
her  wings,  and  ye  would  not!" 

Nothing  so  completely  refutes  the  ''disappointed  polit- 
ical reformer"  theory  as  this  unexpected  outburst.  If 
Jesus  had  been  a  scheming  pretender,  who  expected  to 
set  up  a  govemhient  at  Jerusalem,  or  even  a  pure-minded, 
but  self-deceived,  enthusiast,  who  dreamed  of  establish- 
ing a  reign  of  spiritual  grandeur,  this  was  the  moment 

87 


t. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

at  which  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  refrain  from 

a  cry  of  triumph.    Surrounded  as  He  was  by  the 

"Hosannas"  of  the  acclaiming  multitude,  amidst  the 

zeal  and  wild  joy  of  His  companions,  the  sudden  sight 

of  Jerusalem  with  all  her  embattled  towers  and  glittering 

domes,  could  not  have  failed  to  cause  a  thrill  of  pride 

and  gratified  ambition  in  any  human  political  idealist. 

The  mournful  tenderness  of  His  exclamation  accords 

with  the  Divine  foresight  of  His  next  words,  in  which 

He  unmistakably  portrays  the  horrors  of  the  Roman 

siege:    "If  thou  hadst  known,  even  thou,  at  least  in 

this  thy  day,  the  things  that  belong  unto  thy  peace!— 

But  now  they  are  hid  from  thine  eyes.    For  the  days 

shall  come  upon  thee  that  thine  enemies  shall  cast  a 

trench  about  thee,  and  compass  thee  round,  and  keep 

thee  m  on  every  side,  and  shaD  lay  thee  even  with  the 

ground  and  thy  children  within  thee,  and  they  shall  not 

leave  in  thee  one  stone  upon  another,  because  thou 

kuewest  not  the  time  of  thy  visitation." 

Some  of  the  scribes  and  pharisees  had  now  joined  the 
throng  that  was  pouring  out  from  the  city  to  meet 
the  procession.  They  suffered  a  pang  of  jealousy  at 
every  "Hosanna"  shouted  by  the  crowd.  Unable  to 
bear  it  longer,  they  said  to  Jesus,  "Master  rebuke  Thy 
disciples,"  but  He,  with  thoughts,  which  are  too  deep 
for  us,  of  the  constitution  of  nature  and  the  subcon- 
sciousness of  those  objects  which  appear  to  us  to  be  in- 
animate, and  of  the  spirit-powers  that  dwell  unperceived 
in  rocks  and  trees  and  earthly  elements,  declared  that 
if  His  followers  should  be  silent  the  very  stones  would 
cry  out. 


88 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

When  the  cortege  reached  the  city  walls  and  entered 
through  one  of  the  gates  into  the  thronged  streets,  there 
appears  to  have  been  a  slight  diminution  of  enthus- 
iasm. As  they  passed  along,  the  bystanders  enquired 
with  curiosity  in  regard  to  the  cause  of  the  commotion, 
and  who  this  person  was,  riding  upon  an  ass.  The 
answer  was,  "  This  is  Jesus,  the  prophet  of  Nazareth." 
But  where  were  the  wonderful  transformations  that 
were  to  have  taken  place?  Why  did  not  the  houses 
suddenly  enlarge  till  their  tops  reached  the  clouck? 
Why  were  there  no  earthquakes,  and  no  mountains 
flying  through  the  air  ?  The  zeal  of  the  poor  provinciab 
becanje  chilled  in  the  presence  of  the  crowds  of  curious 
onlookers.  They  began  to  feel  that  they  might  have 
been  mistaken.  As  they  drew  towards  the  Temple  the 
procession  became  thinner.  No  person  stained  with 
the  dust  of  travel  could  approach  the  sacred  Mount 
Moriah  without  cleansing  and  purifying  himself. 
Whether  through  this  cause,  or  on  account  of  their  lack 
of  courage,  or  distrust,  or,  it  may  be,  through  a  sense  of 
awe,  the  followers  of  Jesus  remained  at  a  distance,  or 
dispersed;  and  He  entered  the  Temple  alone. 

As  upon  the  occasion  of  His  former  visit,  none  could 
withstand  the  strange  power  of  His  divine  presence. 
He  stood  before  the  pompous  priests  and  dignified 
pharisees,  unarmed  save  by  a  handful  of  rushes,  alone 
amidst  a  multitude  of  worshippers,  vendors,  and  at- 
tendants. A  sudden  quiet  fell  upon  the  place  and  the 
babel  of  noises  became  hushed.  Again  the  calm  voice 
of  denunciation  was  heard  falling  upon  them  with  a 
stem  power  that  compelled  obedience.  The  avaricious 

89 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

hordes  fled  from  their  oxen  and  their  money  tables  un- 
willing to  face  His  glance. 

Then  crowds  began  to  flock  around  Him  with  approval. 
Sick  persons  were  brought  to  Him  to  be  healed.  Words 
of  marvellous  wisdom  and  sweetness  came  from  Him. 
Doctrines  of  sublime  grandeur  charmed  and  awed  the 
attentive  listeners.  Once  more  the  floodgates  of  en- 
thusiasm were  loosed,  and  loud  "Hosannas*'  were 
shouted,  and  taken  up  even  by  the  children,  perhaps 
by  the  trained  boy  choirs  of  the  Temple.  This  exas- 
perated the  chief  priests  and  pharisees  beyond  measure, 
but  they  could  do  nothing  to  check  the  applause. 
Jesus  added  to  their  rage  by  quoting  against  them  the 
second  verse  of  the  eighth  psalm:  "Out  of  the  mouths 
of  babes  and  suckhngs  thou  hast  perfected  praise." 

There  were  present  strangers  from  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Among  these  were  some  Greeks  who  desired 
to  speak  with  Jesus.  They  came  to  Philip  and  through 
him  sought  an  interview.  Philip  consulted  with  Andrew, 
and  together  they  approached  the  Master  and  informed 
Him  of  the  wish  of  the  foreigners.  The  answer  of  our 
Saviour  agrees  with  the  tradition  regarding  this  mes- 
sage. According  to  stories,  that  have  their  founda- 
tion only  outside  the  canon,  they  were  emissaries 
from  King  Abgarus  of  Edessa  offering  Jesus  an  asylum 
in  his  country,  stating  that  this  monarch  had  heard  of 
our  Lord's  miracles,  and  that  His  life  was  threatened 
by  the  Jews.  Whether  there  is  truth  in  all  the  details 
of  the  story  we  know  not,  but  that  they  bore  an  offer  of 
assistance  and  escape  from  His  threatened  fate  we  may 
fairly  infer  from  our  Lord's  reply:    "Verily,  verily,  I 


90 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


say  unto  you,  except  a  com  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground 
and  die,  it  abideth  alone,  but  if  it  die  it  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit."  Which  might^be  interpreted  in  the 
language  of  our  theory  of  unity'or  integration  as  follows: 
Venly,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  in  order  that  one  grain 
of  wheat  may  result  in  the  uniting  of  many  scattered 
particles  of  nitrogen  and  carbon,  and;  other  elements, 
into  a  hundred  grains  of  wheat,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
smaller  unity  of  the  single  grain  shall  break  up,  through 
the  work  of  the  Disintegrator,  into  its  elemental  parts, 
t.  e,,  shall  be  cast  into  the  ground  and  die;  so,  in  order 
that  the  individual  incarnation  of  God  in  My  person  may 
bear  fruit,  and  develop  into  the  incarnation  of  God  in 
the  whole  race,  it  is  necessary  that  the  Disintegrator 
should  be  allowed  a  temporary  triumph  over  My  in- 
dividual unity,  or  bodily  life,  and  hence  I  must  die; 
therefore  you  may  tell  Abgarus,  or  any  other  person  who 
sees  that  My  life  is  threatened  and  desires  Me  to  flee  from 
danger,  that  I  must  not  say,  "Father  save  Me  from  this 
hour,"  but  rather,  "Father  glorify  Thy  name."  And 
the  sacred  narrator  tells  us  there  was  heard  a  voice 
from  Heaven  saying,  "I  have  both  glorified  it  and  will 
glorify  it  again."  The  people  who  heard  could  not 
distinguish  the  words.  Some  said  that  it  thundered, 
and  others,  having  heard  more  distinctly,  said  "An 
angel  spake  to  Him." 

So  noble  and  winning  were  the  words  of  the  Divine 
Son  of  Man  that  even  some  of  the  chief  priests  believed 
in  Him,  but  most  of  them,  calculating  Sadduces  or 
stupid  Pharisees,  blinded  by  fear  and  dislike,  only  sought 
the  more  to  compass  His  ruin.    He  was  obliged  to  re- 


91 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


tire  quiedy  towards  Bethany  that  night,  possiblv  sleep- 
ing in  the  open  air,  or  under  the  shelter  of  a  friendly 
grove,  on  the  slopes  of  the  Mount  of  Olives. 


H 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  TEMPORARY  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  DISINTEGRATOR  IN 
THE  SUFFERINGS  AND  DEATH  OF  CHRIST. 

On  His  way  to  the  Temple  the  following  morning, 
Jesus,  by  causing  the  barren  fig  tree  to  wither,  gave  the 
world  an  illustration  of  the  judgment  that  was  to  come 
upon  the  city  before  Him.  Jerusalem  had  been  barren, 
and  should  be  cut  down  by  the  sword  and  dried  up  by 
the  fire  of  war.  Those  who  criticise  this  miracle  as  an 
ebullition  of  petty  impatience  fail  to  see  it  in  its  spiritual 
bearings.  The  Gospel  narrators  themselves,  perhaps, 
did  not  realize  fully  our  Saviour's  meaning.  It  might 
have  been  that  He  was  an  hungred  physically,  but  He 
was  starving,  in  spirit,  for  recognition  by  His  race  and 
for  the  love  of  His  fellow-men.  He  thirsted  for  their 
uplifting  and  righteousness.  They  had  been  God's 
vineyard,  as  He  elsewhere  taught  them  explicitly,  and 
when  He  came  to  them  looking  for  fruit.  He  found  noth- 
ing but  leaves.  The  withering  of  the  tree  was  not  child- 
ish resentment  against  an  inanimate  object,  but^  a 
majestic  act  pregnant  with  historical  and  spiritual  signifi- 
cance. It  further  served  to  teach  His  followers  the 
mysterious  power  of  faith.  In  explaining  to  them  the 
potency  by  means  of  which  He  had  been  able  to  destroy 
the  coherence  of  the  tree  as  an  organic  unity.  He  placed 
on  record  the  bold  statement  that,  if  they  had  even  a 
small  portion  of  that  peculiar  force,  they  could  say  to  a 


93 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

mountain,  "Be  thou  removed  and  be  thou  cast  into  the 
sea,"  and  it  would  straightway  obey  them.  These 
words  have  given  rise  to  much  discussion,  especially 
amongst  earnest  Christians.  It  is  asked  why  no  man 
has  ever  had  such  faith.  Thousands  of  the  followers  of 
Christ  possess  a  deep  and  strong  behef  in  God,  in  Jesus 
as  divine,  in  the  immanence  of  the  Supreme  Being 
throughout  nature,  and  in  His  providential  government 
of  all  things;  yet  they  are  not  only  unable  to  move  moun- 
tains, but  they  cannot  lift  more  than  a  few  hundred 
pounds  without  mechanical  appliances.  In  order  to 
get  glimpses  of  our  Lord's  meaning  we  must  understand 
two  things:  first,  what  this  faith  is;  and,  secondly,  how 
we  may  come  to  have  it. 

With  regard  to  the  first  point,  we  must  know  that  this 
kind  of  faith  is  not  an  attitude  of  the  mind,  either  of 
acceptance  or  of  rejection,  towards  any  proposition,  nor 
is  it  merely  a  general  trust  or  reliance  of  the  finite  soul 
upon  the  Infinite  God.  It  is  a  faculty  of  perception  by 
which  the  individual  is  empowered  to  look  beneath  the 
material  into  the  spiritual,  to  gaze  into  the  unseen 
through  the  seen.  It  is  the  faculty  of  apprehending 
the  real  under  the  actual  or  phenomenal.  It  does  not 
see  nature  in  its  dualistic  appearances  of  antagonisms, 
but  dives  straight  down  into  the  underlying  oneness.  We 
would  define  it  as  the  "faculty  of  apprehending  God  as 
unity."  God  is  the  Absolutely  One  throughout  the 
universe;  and  our  definition  is  merely  a  way  of  describing 
the  faculty  by  which  we  apprehend  Him.  The  modes 
by  which  the  Divine  One  manifests  Himself  in  nature 
are  called,  in  scientific  parlance,  chemical  affinity,  mole- 


94 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

cular  cohesion,  and  gravitation.  We  do  not  say  that 
God  is  gravitation,  but  that  gravitation  is  always  a 
manifestation  of  God.  Faith  may  thus  be  considered 
as  a  faculty  that  enables  us  properly  to  perceive  and 
understand  gravitation  as  a  spiritual  force.  Our  Lord, 
accordingly,  meant  that,  if  we  possessed  the  smallest 
fraction  of  the  insight  into  the  unseen  which  He  had,  we 
should  know  that  what  we  call  gravitation  is  merely  a 
name  that  we  have  given  to  a  universal  law  of  Divine 
working.  We  should  be  able  to  see  that  the  force  which 
maintains  a  mountain  in  its  place  is  the  power  of  the 
uniting  God.  We  should  recognize,  at  the  same  time, 
our  own  partial  identity  with  that  God,  and  should  be- 
come aware  of  our  own  control  of  nature,  as  being  parts 
of  Him  Who  governs  it.  The  first  power  we  should  have 
when  this  faith  had  been  given  us  would  be  the  ability  to 
understand  and  control  the  law  of  gravitation.  We 
could  suspend  it  at  wiU.  To  lift  a  mountain  may  seem 
an  immense  task  for  a  man;  but  it  is  only  necessary  to 
alter  the  polarities  of  the  atoms  that  compose  it,  and  the 
mass  will  lift  itself.  At  present  the  molecules  of  earth 
are  so  influenced  that  they  attract  each  other  mutually; 
and  the  earth  attracts  the  hill,  as  a  body,  to  itself,  and 
is,  in  proportion,  attracted  by  it.  Set  the  mvisible 
currents  agoing  in  the  opposite  direction,  substitute 
electric  energy  for  electric  force,  and  the  particles  of 
the  mountain  will  repel  each  other.  Further,  the  im- 
mense mass  itself  will  be  repelled  by  the  earth.  If  you 
wish  it,  the  mountam  will  lift  itself  bodily  from  the 
earth  and  cast  itself  into  the  sea,  in  response  to  your  will- 
power. 


l! 


95 


i- 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

To  understand  our  Lord's  meaning  we  must,  secondly, 
learn  how  we  become  possessed  of  this  faith.  It  is  ob- 
vious that  Jesus  Himself,  and  those  immediately  con- 
nected with  Him,  were  the  only  ones  that  have  had 
enough  of  it  to  work  these  wonders.  Yet  we  are  not  to 
cease  striving  after  it,  though  wc  cannot  expect  to  possess 
it  by  our  own  efforts.  We  cannot  hope  to  attain  His 
degree  of  holiness  and  freedom  from  sin,  yet  we  must 
set  that  before  us  as  the  ideal  at  which  we  aim.  It 
comes  to  men  as  God  chooses  to  give  it.  This  kind  of 
faith,  i.  e.,  power,  is  not  of  man  but  of  God.  It  pleases 
our  Ruler  to  work  gradually.  He  gives  to  one  man 
sufl&cient  discernment  into  reality  to  enable  him  to 
play  his  part  in  the  plan  of  development,  that  and  no 
more.  Moses,  Mahomet,  Luther,  Plato,  and  Hegel  have 
had  a  moiety  of  this  faith  given  them,  but  one  not  so  large 
as  a  mustard  seed.  Only  Christ  and  His  Apostles  had 
the  full  measure  of  faith.  As  we  expand  and  grow  in 
beauty,  goodness,  and  truth,  however,  our  power  of  re- 
ceiving this  faculty  increases.  Through  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  men's  hearts,  all  who  have  been  chosen 
of  God  to  be  saved  in  this  era  will  be  brought  up  into 
the  full  stature  of  Christ,  to  know  and  do  as  He 
thought  and  did.  St.  Paul  had  the  clearest  grasp  of 
this  idea  because  he  possessed  the  most  thorough 
conception  of  unity.  He  emphasizes  the  fact  that 
faith  is  "of  grace,"  i.  e.,  it  comes  to  man  as  a  gift 
from  God,  and  is  not  something  which  we  can  attain 
ourselves,  though  we  must  strive  after  it.  It  is  neces- 
sary that  we  should  place  ourselves  in  an  attitude 
towards  Him  that  will   facilitate  our  reception  of  it 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

when  He  chooses  to  make  us  the  honored  vessels  to  con- 
7«n  such  a  treasure.    The  great  mistake  of  the    faith 
're"  agitation,  of  the  present  day,  Ues  in  the  ignonng 
of  this  important  fact.    The  cure  of  all  diseases  by 
faith  was  accomplished  by  Jesus,  and  will  become  the 
property  of  all  the  elect  some  day,  but  it  suits  the  pur- 
no4  of  God  now  to  grant  that  power  gradually.    We 
^irnot  have  it  by  our  o^n  will,  but  only  as  God  wills; 
and  He  appears  to  desire  us  to  walk  by  medicines  and 
other  material  means  for  the  present.   At  the  close  of  the 
la^t  day  of  our  Lord's  teaching  m  the  Temple,  He  tolcl 
His  followers  that  after  two  days  would  come  the  Feast 
of  the  Passover,  and  then  He  should  be  betrayed  to  be 

crucified^  ,  .         ,      tt^ 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  at  the  very  tune  when  He 
was  foretelling  this  on  the  top  of  the  mountam,  the 
Chief  Priests  and  the  scribes  and  elders,  havmg  met 
together  at  the  house  af  Caiaphas,  had  decided  not  to 
take  Him  on  the  Feast  Day,  lest  there  should  be  an  up- 
roar among  the  people.    They  did  not  understand  the 
wonderful  pre-establishmcnt  of  harmony  by  which  the 
Lamb  of  God  should  be  slain  by  them  for  the  sins  of 
the  whole  world,  on  the  very  day  when  200,000  lambs 
should  be  slain  for  the  sins  of  the  Jews  of  Palestine, 
tx-pes  and  their  antityr^e.      Before  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  when  the  whole  plan  of  the  universe,  and  of  mans 
part  in  it,  lay  in  the  Divine  Mind,  it  had  been  anranged 
that  they  should  die  simultaneously.    Our  Saviour 
knew  His  own  nature  and  mission  too  well  and  foresaw 
the  future  of  the  New  Covenant  in  His  Blood  too  dearly 
to  be  uncertam  about  the  day  of  His  crucifixion.    Hence 

97 


\  i 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

a  way  opens  up  that  determines  the  assembled  priests 
and  elders  to  take  the  step  on  the  Feast  Day  after  all. 
This  was  the  further  offer  of  the  traitor  Judas  to  betray 
Our  Lord  on  the  following  Thursday  evening. 

Christ  spent  Wednesday  in  retirement  at  Bethany,  and 
on  Thursday  He  sent  some  of  His  followers  into  the  city 
to  procure  a  room  in  which  they  were  to  eat  their  last 
Passover.  That  evening  they  made  their  way  quietly 
into  Jerusalem;  and  He  assembled  theTwelve  to  inaug- 
urate the  mystery  of  the  New  Covenant,  the  Feast  of 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God.  As  they 
recHned  on  their  mats  around  the  dish  of  food,  He  re- 
buked them  for  their  woridly  desire  of  precedence  and 
the  mutual  jealousies  that  He  perceived  amongst  them. 
He  wished  to  destroy  the  germs  of  disintegrating  pride 
that  He  saw  threatening  their  unity.  To  show  that 
He  who  is  greatest  in  the  New  Kingdom  must  be  the 
servant  of  all,  He  washed  their  feet,  the  work  of  the 
meanest  slave. 

The  philosophy  of  the  sacrament  which  He  thereupon 
instituted  is  m  strict  accordance  with  our  legitimate  a 
priori  expectations.  Its  object  was  the  establishment  of 
a  unifying  process  whereby  men  should  be  drawn  into 
oneness  with  each  other  by  their  absorption  of  one  body 
and  blood,  one  spirit  becoming  gradually  incorporated 
m  the  whole  race,  by  which  all  individual  souls  should 
be  integrated  into  one.  The  whole  Christian  System  is  a 
revelation  of  unity.  As  the  word  "Atonement"  signifies 
the  unity  between  man  and  God  accomplished  by 
Christ's  death,  so  the  word  "Communion"  indicates 
the  unity  between  all  men,  now  being  graduallybrought 

98 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

about  by  the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  through  the  per- 
petuation of  Christ's  death,  symbolically  and  sacnfic- 
ially,  in  the  consecration  and  consumption  of  bread  and 
wine  wherein  He  constantly  reincarnates  Himself  for  the 
purpose.  The  thought  of  the  unity  of  all  men  in  Him, 
and  of  Himself  in  them,  was  uppermost  in  the  mind  of 
Jesus.  He  had  seen  that  God  is  the  Absolute  unity  that 
underlies  all  diversities,  from  whom  all  things  have  come, 
and  into  whom  they  shall  all  ultimately  become  drawn. 
He  had  grown  up  to  a  realization  of  His  own  identity 
with  God,  and  knew  that  He  and  His  Father  were  one. 
He  understood  that  His  mission  was  to  unite  all  men  to 
God  and  to  each  other,  so  that  there  should  be,  on  the 
earth,  one  spirit  in  a  multitude  of  united  bodies,  or, 
viewed  as  a  federated  race,  one  spirit  in  one  body.  He 
had  established  a  visible  symbol  of  this  in  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Body  and  Blood,  the  most  striking  that 
could  be  conceived,  for  it  represented  that  they  actually 
ate  His  Body  and  drank  His  Blood,  that  He  might  be- 
come part  of  their  body  and  they  be  part  of  His.  He 
continued  to  illustrate  the  closeness  of  this  connection 
by  describing  the  relation  of  the  branches  to  the  vine. 
In  order  that  they  may  have  life,  they  must  abide  in  the 
vine,  as  one  organism.  If  they  did  not,  the  sap,  which 
was  the  principle  of  unity,  would  not  continue  to  in- 
vigorate the  branches,  and  they  should  disintegrate  and 
perish.  Each  branch,  in  other  words,  can  only  preserve 
its  unity  by  remaining  in  the  wider  unity  of  the  vine 
After  having  told  them  of  the  Comforter,  Whom  He 
would  send  to  guide  them  into  all  truth,  He  said  that  in 
a  little  while  they  should  not  see  Him,  and  again  in  a 


99 


I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

little  while  they  should  sec  Hira,  because  He  was  going 
to  the  Father.  When  He  found  that  this  mystified  them, 
He  declared  plainly  that  He  had  come  forth  from  the 
Father  and  had  come  into  the  world,  and,  that  now  He 
would  leave  the  world  and  go  back  to  the  Father.  They 
said  that  they  understood  Him,  and  that  they  now  were 
sure  He  knew  all  things,  and  believed  that  He  had  come 
forth  from  God.  Jesus  sadly  reminded  them  that, 
though  at  this  time  they  appeared  enthusiastic,  in  a  few 
hours  they  would  desert  Him  and  leave  Him  alone;  and 
yet  not  alone,  because  the  Father  was  with  Him.  He 
told  them  to  be  of  good  cheer.  In  the  world  they  should 
have  tribulation,  but  he  had  overcome  the  world;  and 
then  He  lifted  up  His  eyes  to  Heaven  and  uttered 
the  wonderful  prayer  that  sets  forth  um'ty  as  the 
**raison  d^eire^*  of  all  God's  Plan,  past,  present  and 
future,  in  the  creation,  redemption,  and  sanctlfica- 
tion  of  humanity. 

"  Father,"  He  said,  "  the  hour  is  come.  Glorify  Thy 
Son,  that  thy  Son  also  may  glorify  thee:  as  thou  hast 
given  Him  power  over  all  flesh,  that  He  should  give 
eternal  life  to  as  many  as  thou  hast  given  Him.  And  this 
is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee.  *  *  *  Sanctify 
them  through  thy  truth :  thy  word  is  truth.  As  thou  hast 
sent  Me  into  the  world;  even  so  have  I  also  sent  them 
into  the  world ;  and  for  their  sakes  I  consecrate  Mvsclf 
to  My  work  that  they  also  may  be  set  apart  for  their 
mission,  through  the  truth.  Neither  pray  I  for  these 
alone,  but  for  them  also  whioh  shall  believe  on  Me 
through  their  word;  that  they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou^ 
Father^  art  in  Me,  and  I  in  thee,  .hat  they  also  may  he 


xoo 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

one  in  us;  that  the  world  may  believe  tliat  thou  hast  seni 
Me.  And  the  glory  which  thou  gavest  Me  I  have  given 
them;  that  they  may  be  one,  even  as  we  are  one;  I  in  thtm, 
and  thou  in  Me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one;  and 
that  the  world  may  know  that  thou  hast  sent  Me,  and 
hast  loved  them,  as  thou  hast  loved  Me.  Father,  I 
will  that  they  also,  whom  thou  hast  given  Me,  be  with  Me 
where  I  am;  that  they  may  behold  my  glory,  which  thou 
hast  given  Me:  for  thou  lovedst  Me  before  the  foundation 
of  the  world.  Oh  righteous  Father,  the  world  hath  not 
known  thee:  but  I  have  known  thee,  and  these  have 
known  that  thou  hast  sent  Me.  And  I  have  declared 
unto  them  thy  name,  and  will  declare  it:  that  the  love 
wherewith  thou  hast  loved  Me  may  be  in  them,  and  I 

in  them." 

Passing  out  over  the  brook  Kcdron,  they  came  to  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane.  Of  the  mysterious  agony,  the 
most  terrible  example  of  suffering  known  to  us,  we  may 
say  Htde.  Our  Lord,  e\idently,  sufifered  more  in  the  spir- 
itual conflict  with  His  human  nature,  in  that  fight  with 
the  Powers  cf  Evil,  alone  in  the  shade  of  those  trees,  tlian 
He  felt  when  the  cruel  nails  pierced  His  hands  and 
feet.  Those  that  see  m  this  the  shrinking  of  weakness 
are  met  by  the  calm  endurance  of  His  subsequent 
tortures.  It  was  not  the  fear  of  torment,  or  of  death,  that 
caused  those  awful  throes.  It  was  the  struggle  of  the 
human  element  with  the  Divine.  Every  fibre  of  the 
man  resented  the  cruelty,  the  sin,  the  burning  injustice, 
the  unparalleled  barbarity  of  His  coming  fate.  Was 
it  easy  to  bear  all  this  for  such  ungrateful,  selfish  men? 
For  a  righteous  man  one  might  peradventure  dare  to 

lOI 


1 


I. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

die,  but  for  this  hopelessly  mean  and  barbarous  race 
for  those  that  were  thirsting  to  shed  the  blood  of  Him 
that  had  endured  so  much  only  to  save  them  from  sin 
and  its  penalties  and  to  elevate  them  to  a  higher  life? 
We  are  apt  to  think  that,  because  He  led  a  sinless  life,  it 
was  easy  for  Him  to  do  so,  or  that  He  could  not  have 
sinned,  if  He  so  desired.  This  is  not  true.  He  could 
have  done  so;  but  He  was  so  good  that  His  will  would 
not  choose  sin.  He  was  a  thorough  man,  and,  as  such, 
the  ingratitude  and  sins  of  His  fellow-men  hurt  Him 
as  they  hurt  us.  Every  human  instinct  cried  out  against 
this  self-surrender.  He  doubtless  reflected  upon  the 
powers  which  He  could  command  to  destroy  His 
enemies  and  protect  Himself.  We  prefer  to  regard  the 
scene  of  Christ^s  suffering  in  Gethsemane  as  the  last 
struggle  of  Satan  to  overcome  the  Son  of  God.  No 
wonder  the  agony  was  frightful.  To  have  such  power, 
and  not  only  to  refrain  from  using  it,  but  meekly  to  under- 
go these  scoffs,  and  scourgings!  To  die  the  death  of  a 
criminal !  Satan  is  almost  as  powerful  as  God ;  and  every 
vile  passion  of  humanity — every  ungrateful  thought  — 
every  ignorant  brutality — of  mankind,  was  pressed  into 
the  DeviPs  service,  to  fight  the  pure  spirit  of  the  Divine 
One,  through  the  human  side  of  His  nature.  Never  has 
earth  witnessed  such  a  conflict.  To  obey  the  Divine 
within  Him,  and  to  reject,  to  spurn,  to  crush  the  human, 
that  was  the  struggle  in  the  soUtude. 

When  the  tramp  of  an  approaching  mob  made  itself 
heard,  and  torches  began  to  glimmer  through  the  trees, 
Jesus,  thoughtful  for  the  safety  of  His  sleeping  followers, 
stepped  forward — that  He  might  be  the  more  quickly 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

recognized  by  Judas— and  gave  Himself  up  to  His  cap- 
tors lest  the  beloved  disciples  should  suffer  violence. 
The  power  of  His  majestic  presence  is  seen  in  the  fact 
that  He  was  obliged  to  declare  His  identity  twice,  before 
they  recovered  from  the  shock  sufficiently  to  approach. 
When  He  had  stipulated  that  His  friends  should  be 
allowed  to  depart,  and  had  healed  the  wound  inflicted 
by  the  rashness  of  Peter,  the  cowardly  horde  began  to 
realize  that  He  really  stood  before  them  in  meek  sub- 
mission.   As  soon  as  they  were  sure  that  they  had  noth- 
ing to  fear  from  Him,  they  seized  Him  and  hurried  to 
the  house  of  Caiaphas,  where  the  plot  had  been  hatched. 
The  disciples  had  forsaken  Him  and  fled.      A  youth 
had  followed,  partially  dressed,  as  if  roused  suddenly 
from  sleep;  but  he  was  suspected,  seized,  and  only 
escaped  by  leaving  his  garment  in  the  hands  of  his 
captors.    Peter,  as  we  know,  followed  afar  off  and  by 
his  litde  part  in  the  drama  gave  us  a  reaUstic  corrobora- 
tion of  the  truth  of  the  whole  story.    The  naturabiess 
of  the  scene,  the  encounter  with  the  maid  who  recog- 
nized him,  the  startled  denial,  the  reiteration  of  his 
deception,  the  crowing  of  the  cock  in  the  early  morning, 
and  his  sudden  remorse,  as  the  warning  of  His  Master 
came  to  his  mind,  these  would  have  been  masterpieces 
of  fiction,  if  they  had  not  been  true.    How  clearly  they 
bring  that  far-away  night  before  us!    The  lapse   of 
nhieteen  centuries  has  only  intensified  our  appreciation 
of  every  detail  in  it.    We  can  see  him  rushing,  in  an 
agony  of  remorse,  out  into  the  darkness;  with  the  loving 
look  of  pity,  cast  upon  him  by  our  Lord,  alternately 
maddening  and  soothing  his  tempestuous  soul.    We 


I02 


103 


I 
1 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

can  see  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  dragged  from  one  court- 
yard of  the  Palace  to  another,  hailed  before  Annas  and 
Caiaphas  and  then  before  the  whole  Sanhedrim,  left 
shivering  in  the  guard-room,  surrounded  by  the  ignorant 
menials  of  the  High  Priest,  and  the  jeering  taunts  of  the 
bnital  soldiers.  We  see  His  sacred  face  buffetted  by 
cruel  hands,  and  even  spat  upon.  We  see  His  guards 
inventing  a  coarse  game  to  amuse  themselves.  They 
blindfold  Him  and  strike  Him  with  their  hands,  each 
one  crying,  as  he  bruises  the  gentle  face,  "Prophesy  to 
us,  thou  Christ,  who  is  he  that  smote  thee?"  We  see 
the  national  crime  of  a  mock  trial,  before  a  bitterly 
prejudiced  tribunal,  and  the  condemnation  of  an  inno- 
cent person  upon  the  false  testimony  of  perjured  wit- 
nesses. 

The  Sanhedrim  of  the  Jews  cannot  pronounce  the 
death  sentence;  therefore  charges  must  be  brought  before 
Pontius  Pilate,  the  Roman  Procurator  of  Judaea.  He 
represents  the  empire  that  has  given  law  to  the  world, 
that  has  settled  the  principles  of  just  dealing  between 
men  and  nations;  surely  we  may  expect  justice  at  this 
tribunal  I  Alas,  the  position  of  Roman  Governor,  like 
many  another  ofl&ce  of  earthly  court  favor,  is  not  a  bed 
of  roses.  What  with  the  continuous  religious  dis- 
turbances amongst  the  fanatical  Jews,  their  constant 
quarrek  with  the  Roman  soldiery,  their  turbulent  up- 
risings from  time  to  time  as  some  insane  reformer  takes 
it  into  his  head  to  pretend  that  he  is  their  Messiah; 
what  with  the  sharp  reprimands  that  Pilate  receives 
from  Rome  occasionally,  as  news  of  these  riotous  pro- 
ceedings reaches  the  capital  of  the  Empire,  he  scarcely 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

feels  the  independence  and  freedom  that  are  essential 
to  the  right  administration  of  justice.  He  lives  in  a  state 
of  nervous  apprehension  lest  some  fresh  event  may  in- 
crease his  unpopularity  with  the  Jews,  and  cause  him 
to  be  recalled. 

It  is  pitiable  to  see  the  inward  conflict  between  inclina- 
tion and  duty.  He  tries  in  every  way  to  soften  the  blood- 
thirsty priests.  He  declares  that  he  finds  no  fault  in 
Jesus.  Hearing  that  the  accused  is  from  Galilee,  he 
grasps  at  the  chance  of  evading  responsibility  by  sending 
Him  to  Herod.  Failing  in  this  he  bethinks  him  of  the 
custom  of  releasing  a  prisoner  at  the  feast;  but  they 
choose  Barabbas. 

As  a  last  resort  he  causes  Christ  to  be  scourged, 
thinking  that  this  will  satisfy  them,  and  that,  when  they 
have  seen  Him  suffer,  they  will  be  ready  to  let  Him  go, 
but  the  smell  of  blood  only  makes  hounds  fiercer;  and 
when  Pilate,  showing  Christ  crowned  with  the  bloody 
thorns,  and  standing  weak  and  pale.  His  lacerated 
shoulders  pleading  for  their  pity,  cries,  "  Behold  the 
Man!"  they  only  cry  the  louder,  like  Devil-possessed 
maniacs,  as  they  were,  "  Crucify  Him,  Crucify 
Himl  " 

Then,  driven  to  his  wit's  end,  Pilate  commits  the  deed 
that  has  made  his  name  the  by- word  of  all  men:  for, 
by  the  symbolical  act  of  washing  his  hands,  he  declares 
himself  clear  of  the  whole  matter,  and  yet,  at  the  same 
moment,  delivers  Jesus  over  to  them  to  be  crucified.  He 
is  a  judge  that  pronounces  the  prisoner  **not  guilty" 
and  then  proceeds  to  sentence  him  for  the  crime,  he  has 
just  declared,  the  prisoner  did  not  commit* 


W4 


*^  jpf^'^dios 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

We  see  the  procession  on  its  way  to  Calvary,  the 
women  who  loved  Him  weeping,  the  steady  march  of 
the  Roman  soldiers,  and  the  staggering  steps  of  Jesus, 
bearing  His  heavy  cross.  We  see  Him  sinking  beneath 
the  load,  and  the  stout  country  man  compelled  to  take  it 
up;  and  now  we  notice  the  thread-Uke  stream  of  human 
beings  wending  its  way  outside  the  city  walls  to  the 
Place  of  the  Skull. 

Three  crosses  he  on  the  ground  beside  the  sockets, 
that  have  been  dug  to  hold  them,  ready  to  be  uplifted 
with  their  burdens.  Our  Lord  refuses  the  opiate,  that  He 
may  suffer  all  the  pain  that  human  flesh  and  human 
nerves  can  cause  in  their  disintegration.  He  lies  upon 
the  pieces  of  wood;  the  iron  pierces  His  tender  flesh;  and 
we  hear  the  thud  of  a  heavy  hammer — ^yet  there  is  no 
moan. 

It  is  only  when  the  cross  is  raised  aloft  with  its  hving 
crest,  and  thrown  into  the  hole,  and  the  entire  weight  of 
the  tortured  body  is  jerked  upon  the  wounds,  and  the 
tendons  snap,  and  the  nerves  Hke  liquid  streams  of 
fire  pour  their  agonies  into  the  reeling  brain,  it  is  only 
in  this  moment  that  a  sound  comes  from  the  quivering 
lips,  "Father,  forgive  them  for  they  know  not  what 
they  do." 

And  now  we  see  the  soldiers  casting  lots  for  His 
raiment,  and  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  passing  by  and 
raiHng  at  Hun:  "If  He  be  Christ,"  say  they,  "let  Him 
save  Himself.  Let  Him  come  down  from  the  cross." 
Once  more  we  see  the  sacred  lips  move.  Even  in 
this  moment  of  agony  He  thinks  not  of  Himself. 
He  is  comforting  the  thief  on  the  cross  beside  Him. 

io6 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

i 

"To-day,"  said  He,  "  shalt  thou  be  ^with  Me  in 
Paradise." 

Looking  down  at  His  mother, ^who  stood  with  a 
breakmg  heart,  which  responded  to  every  throb  of  her 
Son's  agony,  and,  thinking  of  her  widowed  loneliness, 
He  turns  His  fast-dimming  eyes  towards  John,  the 
beloved  disciple  and  says,  "Woman  behold  thy^son." 

His  agony  now  draws  from  Him  the  despairing  words 
of  David,  which  had  been  used  before  as  prophetic  of 
the  Messiah's  passion :  "  Eloil  Eloil  lama  sahachthanil " 
He  thinks  that  even  God  has  forsaken  Him. 

As  time  goes  by,  thirst  of  the  most  intolerable  kind, 
the  burning  thirst  caused  by  the  fever  of  His  wounds 
and  the  tension  of  His  nerves  and  muscles,  becomes  the 
most  agonizing  of  all  His  sufferings.  Whose  heart  has 
not  melted  to  see  the  avidity  with  which  a  Httle  child, 
flushed  with  fever,  clutches  the  cooling  cup  from  its 
mother's  hand;  but  what  is  this  beside  the  pathos  of  the 
words  "I  thirst,"  as  they  are  wrenched  from  Jesus  by 
His  three  hours'  suffering!  What  gratitude  do  we  not 
feel  toward  the  one  unknown  hand  that  upHfted  the 
sponge  upon  the  sprig  of  hyssop,  and  held  it  to  His  lips! 

And  about  the  sixth  hour  darkness  came  over  all  the 
earth  till  the  ninth  hour.  And  the  sun  was  darkened, 
and  the  veil  of  the  Temple  was  rent  in  twain. 

And  when  Jesus  had  cried  with  a  loud  voice  He  said, 
"Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  My  spirit;"  and 
having  said  thus.  He  gave  up  the  Ghost. 

"And  Joseph,  a  good  man  and  a  just,  went  unto  Pilate 
and  begged  the  body  of  Jesus.  And  He  took  it  down  and 
wrapped  it  in  Imen  and  laid  it  in  a  sepulchre  that  was 


107 


|l 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

hewn  in  stone,  wherein  never  man  was  laid.  The 
women  also,  which  came  with  Jesus  from  Galilee,  fol- 
lowed after  and  beheld  the  sepulchre  and  how  His  body 
was  laid,  and  they  returned  and  prepared  spices  and 
ointments  and  rested  the  Sabbath  Day  according  to 
the  Commandment." 


ii 


io8 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  EXPLANATORY  OJF 
THE  PLACE  OF  DEPARTED  SPIRITS,  AND  THE  SPIRITUAL 
ENVIRONMENT  OF  MAN. 

We  shall  attempt  here  to  prove  that  one  who  accepts 
the  Scriptures,  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  should 
believe  in  the  existence  of  a  spirit-world  surrounding 
this  earth,  and  should  hold  that  this  hving  environment 
contains  conscious  beings,  and  that  it  is  the  abode  of 
men  and  women  immediately  after  they  leave  this  Hfe. 
Wc  shall  also  try  to  show  that  the  position  of  the  Church 
on  this  interesting  matter  is  the  goal  to  which  the  most 
recent  experiments  and  scientific  theories  are  leading 
advanced  thinkers. 

With  regard  to  the  teaching  of  the  Old  Testament,  we 
have  a  clear  example  in  the  opening  of  the  yoimg  man's 
eyes  by  the  prayer  of  Elisha.  "And  when  the  servant  of 
the  man  of  God  was  risen  early  and  gone  forth,  behold 
an  host  compassed  the  city,  both  with  horses  and  chariots, 
and  his  servant  said  unto  him,  *Alas,  my  master,  how 
shall  we  do  ?'  and  he  answered,  'Fear  not,  for  they  that 
be  with  us  are  more  than  they  that  be  with  them.'  And 
Elisha  prayed  and  said,  *  Lord,  I  pray  Thee  open  his 
eyes,  that  he  may  see.'  And  the  Lord  opened  the  eyes 
of  the  young  man,  and  he  saw;  and  behold,  the  mountain 
was  full  of  horses  and  chariots  of  fire  round  about 
Elisha."    Thus  we  observe  that  there  existed  large 


109 


11* 


I 

t 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

numbers  of  living  beings  that  remained  invisible  to 
the  natural  faculties  of  an  ordinary  man.  All  that  was 
necessary  to  perceive  them  was  an  addition  of  subjective 
power.  His  faculties  being  too  coarse  to  apprehend 
objects  of  so  fine  a  fibre,  or  essence,  he  needed  only  an 
exaltation  of  spiritual  vision,  a  sixth  sense,  as  some  have 
called  it.  We  notice  this  exaltation,  to  a  less  degree,  in 
poets,  and  in  persons  of  an  originating  disposition;  and 
we  can  easily  imderstand  that  God,  who  in  this  century 
is  revealing  Himself  chiefly  by  scientific  discoveries,  in 
other  ages  may  have  used  the  channel  of  spiritual  illumi- 
nation so  freely,  with  prophets  and  dreamers  of  dreams, 
as  to  our  rational,  and  somewhat  skeptical  temper,  would 
seem  incredible.  Such  a  theory  alone  accounts  satis- 
factorily for  the  appearances  of  angels,  and  for  countless 
instances  of  what  we  call  supernatural  visitations.  Of 
course,if  one  deny  the  truth  of  the  Bible,other  arguments 
must  be  used.  Here  we  are  only  trying  to  show  that  any- 
one who  accepts  the  Scriptvires  should  believe  in  the 
existence  of  a  living  and  conscious  environment.  It 
does  not  follow  that  these  spiritual  beings  are  not  also 
material.  They  may  be  composed  of  matter  in  so  fine 
a  form  that  it  transcends  faculties  hke  ours,  just  as  the 
shrill  sounds,  which  become  inaudible  to  our  ears, 
nevertheless  exist,  and  can  be  plainly  heard  by  a  tiny 
insect;  or  smells,  which  are  too  delicate  to  be  detected 
by  us,  are  known  to  exist,  because  dogs  follow  them.  We 
can  imagine  a  world  of  sights  too  brilliant  or  too  dark; 
sounds  too  shrill  or  too  deep ;  smells  too  delicate  or  too 
powerful;  tastes  too  sweet  or  too  bitter;  touches  too  hot 
or  too  cold,  too  smooth  or  too  rough,  too  immense  or  too 


no 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

intense— to  come  within  the  range  of  our  faculties;  and 
we  can  picture  to  ourselves  a  never-ending  succession  of 
conscious  material  creatures  to  whom  these  sights, 
sounds,  smells,  tastes,  and  touches,  would  be,  in  turn, 
perceptible  and  intelligible.  Therefore  the  inhabitants 
of  the  so-called  spirit  world  that  is  around  us,  may  be 
just  as  decidedly  material  as  ourselves,  only  finer;  nay, 
it  is  even  possible,  and  to  our  mind  quite  probable,  that 
we  go  on  from  the  lower  to  the  higher,  from  the  grosser 
up  through  these  finer  stages,  as  the  process  of  our  sane- 

tification  goes  on.  , .      .     ,  .        ^.,, 

In  the  New  Testament,  the  teachmg  is  plamer  still. 
St.  Paul's  conversion  resulted  from  a  manifestation  to 
him  of  the  higher  spiritual  circles  of  existence.  Writing 
afterwards  of  his  experiences,  he  says: "  I  knew  a  man  in 
Christ  above  fourteen  years  ago,— whether  in  the  body,  I 
cannot  tell;  or  whether  out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell: 
God  knoweth;— such  an  one  caught  up  to  the  third 
Heaven.  And  I  knew  such  a  man,— whether  in  the 
body,  or  out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell:  God  knoweth;— 
how  that  he  was  caught  up  into  Paradise,  and  heard  un- 
speakable words,  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  man  to 
utter."— 2  Cor.  XII:  2. 

When  Jesus  was  transfigured  on  the  Mount,  He  was 
seen  discoursing  with  Moses  and  Elias,  who  had  left  this 
life  and  were  living  in  the  Place  of  Departed  Spirits.  It  is 
much  easier  to  understand  that  the  faculties  of  Peter, 
James,  and  John  were  illuminated  to  perceive  the  exist- 
ence of  persons  whose  abode  is  always  about  us,  but  who 
are  invisible  to  our  senses,  than  that  these  were  spirits 
that  had  come  from  some  distant  sphere,  merely  for  the 


III 


ii 


■i 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

occasion,  and  that  could  have  been  discerned  by  us 
with  our  ordmary  faculties  if  we  had  been  present. 

We  are  not,  however,  left  to  draw  mere  inferences  in 
regard  to  New  Testament  teaching  about  the  Place  of 
Departed  Spirits.  Christ  has  given  us  as  plain  a  picture 
as  human  beings  need,  in  the  parable  of  the  rich  man 
and  Lazarus  and  in  His  statement  on  the  cross  to  the 
dying  thief. 

The  rich  man  died  and  went  to  Hades.  While  there 
he  could  plainly  see  Lazarus  who  was  in  Paradise.  They 
were  separated.  A  great  gulf,  which  neither  could  pass, 
was  between  them  but  they  were  able  to  talk  to  each 
other.  The  word  "Paradise"  meant  a  garden,  and 
would  be  used  to  denote  that  portion  of  the  Place  of 
Departed  Spirits  where  the  inhabitants  were  happy; 
whereas  the  other  part  of  the  same  place  contained  the 
abode  of  some  who  were  in  torment.  The  home  of  the 
departed  spirits,  therefore,  we  take  to  be  one  place  in 
which  a  giUf,  vvhether  moral  or  physical,  separates  the 
blessed  from  the  cursed. 

To  the  dying  thief  upon  the  cross  Jesus  said,  "To-day 
thou  shah  be  with  me  in  Paradise."  Those  who  affirm 
that  the  state  of  the  blessed  dead  is  one  of  rest,  or  sleep, 
which  will  last  till  the  Resurrection,  are  forced  either  to 
iimore  this  appeal  to  Scripture,  or  are  obUged  to  resort 
to  an  extremely  far-fetched  and  unsatisfactory  under- 
standing of  it.  They  say  that  Jesus  meant,  "I  say 
to-day,  unto  thee,  that  thou  shalt  be  with  me  in  Para- 
dise." ^  By  its  meaningless  redundancy  this  expression 
carries  its  refutation  upon  its  face.  It  is  an  exceedingly 
weak  attempt  to  escape  from  the  plain  teaching  of 
Scripture. 

112 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

It  was  into  this  "Place  of  Departed  Spirits"   that 
Chrin  descended.    We  know  that  He  would  keep  His 
word  with  the  dving  thief,  and  that,  if  there  are  two  dis- 
tinct localities  in  the  abode  of  the  spirits,  one  Paradise 
and  the  other  a  place  of  torment,  He  would  go  to  Para- 
dise because  He  had  said  He  would  meet  the  thief  there. 
On  Ihe  other  hand,  we  are  told  by  St.  Peter  that  He  went 
and  preached  to  the  "spirits  in  prison".    These  are  also 
described  as  the  persons  who  were  disobedient  in  tne 
time  of  Noah.    Hence  they  would  be  not  in  Paradise 
but  in  the  other  place.    It  is  possible,  since  Lazarus 
and  Dives  could  converse  across  the  gulf,  that  Je?us 
mav  have  preached  to  the  imprisoned  spirits  from 
Paradise,  that  is,  spoke  across  the  gulf;  but  we  consider 
it  more  probable  that  He  would  have  gone  to  them, 
if  He  wished  to  speak  to  them. 

"Why  then,"    the  question  arises,     should  Jesus 
have  desired  to  preach  to  the  imprisoned  spmts? 
The  only  answer  we  can  give  is  that  the  abode  of  the 
wicked  may  be  a  place  where  they  are  not  without 
possibility  of  elevation,  one  in  which  the  condition  is 
not  devoid  of  hope,  and  where  the  dwellers  may  pro- 
gress in  sanctification.    If  it  were  otherwise,  then  our 
Lord's  preaching  to  them  would  be  only  to  mock  them 
m  their  helpless  condition,  and  to  add  to  their  agony 
and  their  remorse    This  idea  is  out  of  the  question; 
and  so  we  must  infer  that  the  abode  of  the  unsanctified 
dead  is  one  of  progression,  and  that  their  suffering  is 
purifying  in  its  nature.    Anyone  that  accepts  the  Scrip- 
tures of  \he  Old  and  New  Testaments,  in  our  opinion 
at  least,  must  hold  the  following  beliefs: 

"3 


t' 


I', 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

(i)  That  we  are  surrounded  by  an  environment  of 
conscious  beings. 

(2)  That  this  is  what  the  Church  means  by  the 
"Place  of  Departed  Spirits". 

(3)  That  this  "Place"  is  of  a  double  nature;  to  one 
class  of  persons  it  is  a  place  of  joy,  a  spiritual  pleasure 
garden,  I  c,  Paradise;  to  a  different  class  it  is  a  world 
of  torment. 

(4)  That  this  suffering  is  for  the  purpose  of  cleansing 
from  sin  those  who  undergo  it;  and  that  the  abode  of  the 
departed  is  one  of  progressive  sanctification. 

Some  however  will  not  accept  the  ^Scriptures  as  evi- 
dence in  the  question,  and  will  desire  scientific  proofs. 
To  these  we  reply  that  what  httle  we  do  know  about  the 
problem,  from  observed  facts,  will  go  to  substantiate 
the  position  we  have  just  defined. 

Obviously  the  field  of  experiment  has,  up  to  the 
present,  been  almost  closed  to  us.    No  man  has  returned 
from  the  "Place  of  Departed  Spirits"  to  tell  us  of  his 
experiences  there,  or  his  inferences  from  them,  except 
the  one  whose  word  it  is  not  considered  scientific  to  accept 
namely,  Jesus  of  Nazareth.    The  experiment,  as  an  cx- 
perinaent  for  human  instruction,  was  only  made  once; 
and  it  has  proved  the  truth  of  the  experimenter's  own 
statement  that,  unless  men  will  believe  Moses  and  the 
Prophets,  they  will  not  believe,  even  though  one  actually 
came  back  to  them  from  the  dead.    This  has  proved  to 
be  the  case,  although  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  has  been 
declared  by  competent  authority  to  be  the  "best  au- 
thenticated fact  in  history."    It  is  true  that  thousands 
nave  beheved  it,  but  they  are  those  that  accept  Mosei 


114 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

and  the  Prophets.  Those  that  refuse  to  believe  the 
latter  are  the  persons  that  deny  the  truth  of  the  Resur- 
rection. 

An  experimental  test,  however,  cannot  be  a  satisfac- 
tory one  unless  it  can  be  frequently  repeated.  The 
nearest  approach  to  such  an  experiment  consists  in  the 
taking  of  ether,  or  opium,  or  chloroform,  and  endeavor- 
ing to  recall  any  recollections  of  thoughts  or  feelings  that 
we  may  have  had  in  our  unconscious  state,  this  being 
the  closest  approach  to  actual  death  that  we  can 
achieve  with  the  ability  to  return  to  life  again.  It 
would  be  interesting,  as  well  as  profitable,  to  collect  from 
persons  inmiediately  upon  their  coming  out  of  anaes- 
thesia the  impressions  of  their  experiences  in  the  un- 
conscious state.  The  writer  once,  when  about  to  take 
ether  in  a  dental  chair,  determined  to  remember  the  last 
thought  in  his  mind  previous  to  unconsciousness,  in 
order  to  ascertain  whether  it  would  throw  light  upon  the 
subject  of  the  next  life.  He  can  remember  thinking,  just 
at  the  last  moment,  that  he  was  entering  another  life, 
and  also  that  he  would  not  be  able  to  remember  details 
of  it,  but  that,  when  he  returned  to  consciousness  again, 
he  would  always  thereafter  be  sure,  in  his  own  mind, 
that  there  was  an  immediate  consciousness  after  death. 
His  first  thought,  as  earthly  self-recognition  returned 
was  that  of  coming  back  from  another  conscious  exist- 
ence, and  not  from  a  blank.  This  is  the  experience  of 
only  one  person;  and,  however  satisfactory  it  may  be  to 
him,  no  scientific  value,  of  course,  can  attach  to  it. 
Nevertheless,  if  attempts  of  this  kind  were  made,  care- 
fully recorded,  and  compared,  much  useful  scientific 
data  might  be  secured. 

"5 


li 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

Experiment  being  almost  entirely  blocked  to  us  wc 
must  fall  back  upon  observation. 

First,  let  us  look  in  upon  our  own  minds;  and  after- 
wards we  may  examine  external  objects.  When  we 
take  an  introspective  survey,  we  meet  at  once  the 
phenomenon  of  double  consciousness.  In  sleep  and 
waking  wc  live  two  distinct  lives.  Sometimes  they  run 
into  each  other,  and  the  experiences  of  the  one  infringe 
upon  the  other;  but,  in  the  main,  the  trains  of  conscious- 
ness are  separate,  and  each  is  continuous  and  coherent  in 
its  owTi  sphere.  In  dreams  we  recognize  our  own  per- 
sonality, sometimes  as  identical  with  our  waking  self, 
but,  at  other  times  a«  oblivious  of  it,  or  as  disconnected 
entirely  with  it.  We  experience  sensations  that  make  a 
powerful  impression  upon  us  in  our  sleeping  state,  but 
these,  when  awake,  we  are  utterly  unable  to  recall.  In 
vivid  dreams  the  actors  appear  just  as  material  as 
they  appear  to  us  in  our  ordinary'  condition.  They  can 
apparently  be  seen,  heard,  touched,  and  apprehended 
by  our  senses.  They  eat,  sleep,  and  act  as  men  ap- 
pear to  do  when  awake.  We  notice,  nevertheless,  that 
the  ideas  of  time  and  space,  however  clear  they  may 
seem  to  be  in  dreams,  are,  when  we  aften^^ards  re- 
flect upon  them,  ex(  eedin.i^ly  confused.  Places  thou- 
sands of  miles  apart  are  brought  together,  and  we  seem 
to  be  in  both  at  once.  So  the  past  and  future  are  in- 
extr-cably  involved  in  a  perpetual  present.  Persoa«f  are 
thought  to  be  with  us  that  have  loner  ^incc  diinl,  and 
cihei-s,  not  bom  at  the  period  represented  by  the  dream, 
are,  by  a  sort  of  antic'p'^iion  of  the  future,  made  to  ap- 
pear and  take  part  in  it. 


ii6 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

How  do  wp  know  that  the  phantasms  of  our  sleeping 
consciousness  have  not  some  conscious  realities  behind 
them?  Of  course  there  is  not  the  same  kind  of  external 
thing  beneath  these  fancies  as  there  is  behind  the  more 
tangible  experiences  of  oui  waking  life;  but  what  i.«i  the 
difference  between  them?    Wherein,  for  example,  does 
the  dream  of  a  tree  differ  from  the  waking  perception 
of  one?    They  both  appear  the  same.    The  sense  of 
sight  gives  no  difference.      Also,  if  we  had  dreamed 
that  we  touched  the  tree,  the  feeling  would  have  been 
the  same  as  that  which  we  have  when  we  handle  a  tree 
when  awake.    Yet  we  are  convinced  that  the  tree  we  see 
in  the  day-time  is  something  outside  ourselves,  that  it  is 
really  there;  and  we  believe  that  the  tree  of  our  dreams 
must  have  been  purely  imaginary',  i.  e.,  that  it  has 
had  no  real  existence  outside  of  our  own  minds.    If  wc 
look  carefully  into  the  two  cases,  we  will  obser\Tthat, 
in  the  instance  of  the  waking  experience,  we  can  verify 
the  phantasm  of  the  mind  by  repeating  it;  and  we  come 
to  believe  that,  at  a  certain  spot,  there  stands  something 
that  we  rail  a  tree,  and  which  has  the  power  of  always 
causing  in  us  the  same  sensations  of  greenness,  rough- 
ness, resinous  odoi,  or  what  not.    It  is  this  expectation 
of  the  permanence  of    the  recurrent  sensations  that 
leads  us  to  believe  that  there  must  be,  at  that  place, 
something,  we  do  not  know  what,  but  something  real, 
which  always  makes  the  same  impressions  upon  us;  and 
we  express  this  expectation  by  saying  that  we  consider 
tliis  a  real  tree.    On  the  other  hand,  because  we  cannot 
experiment  with  the  tree  of  our  dreams,  and  cannot  be 
sure  of  the  recurrence  of  the  same  sensations,  and  repeat 


117 


I  ill 


h 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

them  at  will,  we  say  that  it  has  no  reality  at  the  back 
of  it,  that  nothing  exists  there  outside  of  our  own  minds. 
The  man  who  afl5rms  that  the  consciousness  of  dreams 
has  no  reality  outside  of  the  perceiving  imagination  is 
just  as  unphilosophical  as  the  man  who  asserts  that  the 
tree  of  our  waking  experience  is  really,  apart  from  our 
faculties,  precisely  as  we  see  it  to  be.  It  is  ignorant 
presumption  to  assert  that,  because  this  object  appears 
to  us  tall  and  round  and  green  and  odorous,  it  is  so  in 
itself  apart  from  us,  and  would  be  so  to  beings  differ- 
ently constituted.  It  is  equally  presumptuous  to  assert 
that  the  consciousness  of  perfect  sleep,  i,  e.,  the  realm 
of  dreams  unmixed  with  any  thoughts  of  our  waking 
state,  may  not  be  a  world  of  real  existences,  either 
spiritual,  or  material,  or  both. 

We  observe  also  a  double  consciousness  in  our  waking 
state.    We  give  the  name  of  "consciousness"  to  the 
chain  of  feelings  and   thoughts  recognized  in  succes- 
sion by  the  ego,  or  brought  under  the  immediate  at- 
tention of  the  mind.    We  are  also  possessed  of  num- 
erous experiences  that  are,  at  the  same  time,  unrecog- 
nized by  the   mind,   but    are    present    in   what  we 
call  the  realm  of  subconsciousness.    We  possess  many 
feelings  arising  from  the  workings  of  digestion,   and 
other  organic  functions  of  the  body,  but  it  is  only  rarely 
that  the  mind  recognizes  them,  and  it  is  only  when 
some  derangement  occurs  that  we  become  aware  of  their 
existence.    The  ticking  of  a  clock  may  fall  upon  the 
drum  of  the  ear,  and  proceed  from  that  to  the  brain  by 
the  auditory  nerve,  and  yet  the  mind  may  not  recognize 
it;  so  that  it  does  not  form  part  of  the  present  conscious- 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION 

ness  of  the  mind.   We  see,  therefore,  that  theconsdous- 
ness  of  a  person,  at  any  given  moment,  is  a  sort  of  pro- 
tuberance of  the  ego,  out  of  the  realm  of  subconsaous- 
ness  into  the  world  of  immediate  cognition  in  which  we 
live  *  The  mind  is  like  a  fountain  that  draws  its  sup- 
pUes  from  an  unfathomable  reservoir  of  subconscious- 
ness    When  we  reflect  upon  thenumber  of  our  thoughts, 
it  seems  incredible  that  there  could  be  stored  m  our 
brains  a  separate  ceU,  or  material  impression,  or  change, 
for  each  thought.    However  minute  the  impression 
may  be,  we  cannot  consider  our  brains  large  enough 
to  contain  such  a  multitude  of  cUstinct  impressioi^. 
Therefore  we  conclude  that  we  must  be  surrounded  by 
a  world  of  spirit-force,  and  that  our  thoughts  are  reaUy 
stored  in  this;  and  that  this  realm  of  other-consciousness 
is  the  place  from  which  all  our  recollections  are  drawn. 
What  is  more  probable  than  that  this  is  at  once  the 
place  from  which  our  souls  have  become  incarnated, 
and  the  place  to  which  they  will  go  immediately  after 
death,  the  "Place  of  Departed  Spirits",  the  world  of 
our  dreams,  and  even  of  our  real  waking  inner  self  f' 
This  hvpothesis  gathers  up  all  the  apparently  irrecon- 
cilable'contradictions  of  the  phenomena  of  double  con- 
sciousness, and  makes  them  intelHgible,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  harmonizes  all  observed  facts  vdth  the  teachmg 
of  the  Christian  Church.    While  the   twenty-second 
Article  declares  that  the  Romish  teaching  regarding 
Pur^^atory  and  Pardons  is  without  warrant  of  Scripture, 
and°a  "fond  thing  vainly  invented",  the  Church  has 
always  beUeved  in  an  intermediate  state,  and  does  not 
deny  that  this  condition  may  be  one  of  progressive 

119 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

sanctification.    According   to   our  hypothesis   of  the 
gradual  triumph  of  unity  throughout  the  universe,  the 
general  purpose  of  this  intermediate  state  would  be 
the  bringing  about  of  unity  throughout  the  perpetually 
incarnating  portions  of  the  spiritual  environment  of  the 
earth,  or  the  gradual  sanctification  of  the  human  race 
by  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  making  all  men  one 
in  the  likeness  of  God,  the  Absolutely  One,  through 
organic  um'ty  with  Christ  in  the  sacraments,  teachings, 
and  ordinances  of  the  Christian  Church.    Making  the 
widest  conjecture  regarding  the  plan  of  the  universe,  we 
assert,  according  to  this  theory,  that  the  whole  creation 
is  being  drawn  slowly  towards  Heaven,  and  that  smaller 
spheres  are  being  drawn  towards  larger,  which  in  their 
turn  are  being  drawn  towards  their  centres;  until  we 
reach  the  conception  of  Heaven,  the  Absolutely  One 
Substance  which  is  the  centre  of  attraction  and  regula- 
tion for  the  whole     We  observe  also  the  process  of 
condensation  and  unification  in  all  parts  of  the  plan  and 
in  every  direction  in  which  we  look,  mental,  moral,  and 
physical;  and  in  every  aspect  of  God,  Man,  or  Nature. 
According  to  the  same  hypothesis,  we  have  most  prob- 
ably lived  on  the  moon  when  it  was  a  planet  like  this, 
have  there  been  condemned  to  be  cast  on  this  earth,  and 
are  gradually  becoming  incarnated  in  it  until  the  elect 
portion  of  the  human  race  will  be  one  spirit,  and  the  rest 
will  be  cast  upon  the  sun  to  undergo  a  similar  process. 
As  to  how  the  process  of  purification  by  suffering 
takes  place  in  the  realm  of  subconsciousness,  or  the 
"Place  of  Departed  Spirits, "or  whatever  we  may  Hke 
to  call  it,  we  cannot  undertake  to  say,  nor  does  the 
Church  define  it. 

120 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

It  may,  however,  be  by  reincarnation.    There  is  one 
incident  given  in  the  Scriptures,  which,  though  usuaUy 
overlooked,  throws  light  upon  this  subject,  and  that  is 
the  reincarnation  of  Elijah  in  John  the  Baptist.    The 
Old  Testament  ends  with  the  promise  of  Elijah's  re- 
incarnation, and  the  New  Testament  begins  with  its 
fulfilment  m  John  the  Baptist.    By  reincarnation  we 
mean  the  same  soul  coming  to  earth  again  with  a  new 
body,  and  in  new  surroundings.    By  the  reincarnation  of 
Elijah  we  mean  that  Elijah  came  back  again  to  this 
earth  and  was  reborn  and  became  the  person  whom  we 
know  as  John  the  Baptist.     We  do  not  mean  that  John 
the  Baptist  was  another  man,  who  had  a  mind  and  char- 
acter Uke  those  of  Elijah,  but  that  John  the  Baptist 
actually  was  Elijah.    This  is  a  subject  of  the  greatest 
importance,  because,  if  reincarnation  occurred  once,  it 
could  occur  again.    There  is   much  vague  and   sup- 
erficial theorizing  on  the  subject  of  reincarnation  now- 
adays; but  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  facts  as  they 
are  set  forth  in  the  Holy  Scriptures.    Joel  and  Zach- 
ariah  had  both  described  a  great  day  of  Judgment, 
which  was  fulfilled  when  Jerusalem  was  destroyed  by 
the  Romans,  after  the  most  horrible  siege  known  to 
history.    It  was  the  punishment  of  the  Jews  for  their 
rejection  of  Christ,  the  Messiah;  but  before  this  day 
should  come,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Malachi, 
Elijah  must  return  and  restore  all  things. 

For  hundreds  of  years  before  the  coming  of  Christ, 
the  expectation  of  Elijah's  return  was  always  associated 
with  the  appearance  of  the  Messiah.  He  was  to  be  the 
forerunner  of  the  promised  Christ.    Let  us  see  how  the 


I2X 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION, 

propheqr  was  fulfilled.    When  the  Angel  announced  to 
Zacharias,  in  the  Temple,  that  he  should  have  a  son 
whose  name  must  be  called  John,  the  messenger  said: 
"And  many  of  the  children  of  Israel  shall  he  turn  to  the 
Lord  their  God;  and  he  shaU  go  before  Him  in  the 
spirit  and  power  of  Elias— the  Greek  form  of  the  Hebrew 
Elijah— to  turn  the    hearts  of    the    fathers    to  the 
children,  and  the  disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the 
just,  to  make  ready  a  people  prepared  for  the  Lord.'' 
We  see  here  a  direct  reference  to  Malachi's  prophecy . 
John  the  Baptist  should  go  before  the  Messiah,  in  the 
spirit  and  power  of  Elijah,  to  turn  the  hearts  of  the 
fathers  to  the  children,  and  the  children  to  their  fathers. 
While  all  must  admit  this  much,  they  may  say  that  it 
does  not  prove  that  John  the  Baptist  actually  was 
Elijah,  but  merely  that  he  came  in  the  "spirit  and 
power"  of  EUjah.    What  is  meant  by  the  spirit  and 
power  of  a  man?    It  is  true  the  expression  is  not  free 
from  ambiguity.    We  speak  of  a  man  having  the  spirit 
of  another  when  he  is  actuated  by  similar  motives,  and 
has  the  same  disposition;  but  we  should  remember  that 
the  Angel  is  speaking  here  of  the  spirit  of  a  man  who 
had  left  this  earth  and  gone  to  the  Place  of  Departed 
Spirits;  so  that  the  word  "spirit"  would  appear,  on  its 
face  to  mean  the  spirit  in  its  Hteral  sense  rather  than 
one's  disposition,  or  character.    We  should  also  re- 
member that  he  was  speaking  of  a  departed  spirit  whose 
return  to  earth  was  as  direct  a  matter  of  prophecy  as 
the  coming  of  Christ  Himself.    The  words  of  Malachi 
are  plain.    "Behold  I  will  send  unto  you— not  a  man 
uke  Elijah,  or  a  man  having  the  same  spiritual  power 

122 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

as  Elijah,  but,  "  Elijah,  the  prophet,"  the  man  him- 
self-  "Behold  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet,  be- 
fore the  great  and  dreadful  day  of  the  Lord."    Now  we 
know  that  this  great  dav  has  passed,  for  the  language  of 
prophecy  shows  plainly  that  it  meant  the  destruction  of 
Terusalem.    Therefore,  if  this  was  fulfiUed  before  the 
year  70  A.  D.,  Elijah  came  in  the  form  of  some  person 
before  that  time;  and  if  Elijah  was  reincarnated,  before 
the  year  70,  in  whom  was  he  reincarnated  if  not  in  John 
the  Baptist?    Fortunately,  however,  we  have  much 
stronger  proof.    We  have  our  Lord's  own  statement  that 
Elijah  was  reincarnated  in  John  the  Baptist.    Nor  do 
we  depend  on  one  Gospel  for  our  authority,  since  both 
St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  record  it.    St.  Mark,  IX, 
n,  12  and  13,  says:    And  they  asked  him,  saying, 
"Why  say  the  scribes  that  Elias  must  first  come  ?  "    And 
he  answered  and  told  them:  EUas  verily  cometh  first 
and  rcstoreth  all  things,  and  how  it  is  written  of  the  Son 
of  Man,  that  He  must  suffer  many  things  and  be  set  at 
nought;  but  I  say  unto  you  that  Elias  is  indeed  come, 
and  they  have  done  unto  him  whatsoever  they  listed, 
as  it  is  written  of  him."    If  we  had  no  other  authority 
than  this,  strong  as  it  is,  some  might  have  said  that  he 
did  not  refer  to  John  the  Baptist;  but  St.  Matthew  leaves 
no  doubt  on  that  point.     He  says,  XVII:   12     and 
13:    "But  I  say  unto  you  that  Elias  is  come  already, 
and  they  knew  him  not,  but  have  done  unto  him  what- 
soever thev  listed.    Likewise  shall  also  the  Son  of  Man 
suffer  of  them.    Then  the  disciples   understood  that 
he  spake  unto  them  of  John  the  Baptist".    After  such 
a  statement  from  our  Lord's  ovm  lips,  it  appears 


123 


■«VCtP^f||MM|g|HWMp|gM 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

decidedly  wrong  to  doubt  that  John  the  Baptist  actual, 
ly  was  Elijahs 

To  most  people  the  strange  manner  in  which  the 
prophet  of  Gilead  left  the  earth  would  seem  an  argument 
agamst  the  possibility  of  any  reincarnation,  except  in  the 
case  of  people  who  were  taken  up  into  the  Heavens  as 
he  was.  His  departure  was  so  exceptional  that  it  may 
be  regarded  as  being  an  argument  against  reincarnation 
rather  than  for  it. 

"If  all  men  left  the  earth  alive,"  some  may  say  "it 
might  be  probable  that  they  would  return  again,' but 
It  IS  not  probable  that  they  would  return  after  death  " 
This  has  some  weight  and  it  would  have  more  but 
for  one  significant  fact,  namely,  that  Elijah  did  not 
come  back  to  earth  with  the  same  body  that   went  up 
m  the  chanot.     John  was  bom  of  his  mother  Elizabeth 
and  became  a  little  child  like  any  other.    If  John  the 
Baptist  had  suddenly  appeared  from  the  wilderness 
full  grown,  and  we  had  no  account  of  his  birth;  if  in 
short,  Elijah  had  simply  come  back  with  the  same  body 
which  he  took  with  him  866  years  before,  then  we  might 
think  that  his  reincarnation  was  dependent  upon  his 
having  left  the  earth  alive.    But  Elijah  left  his  old  body 
behind  him  m  the  Place  of  Departed  Spirits,  or  wher- 
ever it  went  in  the  fiery  chariot;  and,  when  his  spirit 
came  back  to  earth  again,  it  incarnated  itself  in  the 
same  way  as  any  other  soul  takes  possession  of  a  human 
body. 

The  fact  that  this  is  the  only  case  of  the  kind  on  record 
does  not  detract  from  its  inferential  value.  The  gener- 
laization  that  all  crows  are  black  seems  quite  as  clear  as 


124 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

most  of  our  accepted  inferences,  but  if  a  man  could 
produce  one  white  crow  it  would  overthrow  it.  You 
might  find  50,000  black  crows;  but  if  I  could  show  one 
white  one,  it  would  disprove  the  statement  that  all  crows 

are  black. 

So  if  any  one  argues,  because  millions  of  people  leave 
this  earth,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  never  come  back 
to  it,  that  therefore  reincarnation  is  impossible,  and  I 
produce  from  Scripture  one  case  of  a  man  who  did  come 
back  and  was  reincarnated,  it  overthrows  his  generali- 
zation,  provided  he   agrees  to   abide   by   Scripture 

proof. 

Further,  if  we  compare  the  character  of  John  the 
Baptist  with  that  of  Elijah,  it  will  be  seen  how  mar- 
vellously our  Lord's  statement  is  corroborated.  John 
the  Baptist  was  the  exact  counterpart  of  Elijah  in  all 
his  physical,  mental,  and  moral  characteristics.  Elijah 
the  Tishbite  came  from  the  wilds  of  Gilead.  The 
inhabitants  of  that  region  were  regarded  by  the  people 
of  Jerusalem  much  as  the  natives  of  the  South  Sea 
Islands  are  regarded  by  the  people  of  London  or 
New  York.  John  came  from  the  wilderness  with  the 
same  half-savage  appearance  and  manner  of  speech  as 
Elijah.  The  raiment  of  camePs  hair,  the  sheepskin 
mantle,  the  locusts  and  wild  honey,  the  fierce  gestures, 
and  ringing  denunciations  of  sin  are  all  repetitions  of 
the  Tishbite. 

Compare  Elijah's  bold  rebuking  of  Ahab  and  Jezebel 
with  John's  reproach  of  Herod  and  Herodias.  It  is 
the  same  man,  speaking  in  the  same  strain,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  over  800  years.    You  find  the  similarity  of 


125 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION 

disposition,  even  in  the  little  details  of  character.  For 
example,  take  their  fits  of  despondency.  Compare  the 
wail  of  Elijah  in  the  cave  with  that  of  John  in  the  tower 
of  Machaerus.  Elijah  says:  "The  children  of  Israel 
have  forsaken  thy  covenant,  thrown  down  thine  altars 
and  slain  thy  prophets  with  the  sword,  and  I,  even  I  only' 
am  left,  and  they  seek  my  life,  to  take  it  away."  He 
speaks  as  if  he  had  not  a  friend  left  in  the  world,  and 
his  life  had  been  a  failure.  How  like  John  the  Baptist, 
broken  down  by  his  ill-treatment,  utterly  despondent, 
even  distrusting  the  Saviour  whom  he  had  only  a  short 
time  before  proclaimed  as  the  Lamb  of  God,  sending  to 
ask  of  Jesus,  "Art  thou  He  that  should  come,  or  do  we 
look  for  another?" 

We  find  also  a  striking  resemblance  between  Herod 
and  Ahab.  Their  characters  were  certainly  similar. 
There  was  the  same  fondness  for  grandeur.  Both  were 
restorers  of  cities  and  builders  of  magnificent  palaces. 
Both  were  guilty  of  gross  licentiousness.  Both  were 
superstitious,  and  cowardly.  Ahab  feared  Elijah,  and 
Herod  feared  John;  but  neither  was  man  enough  to 
obey  the  prophet  and  do  the  right. 

Likewise  do  we  find  a  strange  parallel  in  the  charac- 
ters of  Jezebel  and  Herodias.  There  is  the  same  super- 
stition, debauchery,  and  vindictiveness  in  each,  so  that 
it  is  a  question  which  name  of  the  two  is  the  more  in- 
famous to  our  ears. 

We  do  not  presume  to  say  that  Herod  was  a  reincarna- 
tion of  Ahab,  or  Herodias  an  incarnation  of  Jezebel;  but 
we  do  say  positively,  because  Our  Lord  Himself  says  so, 
that  John  the  Bantist  was  a  reincarnation  of  Elijah; 


126 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

and  we  point  out  these  other  facts  as  a  most  singular 
coincidence  in  connection  with  it. 
We  express  our  conclusions  in  the  following  proposi- 

(i)*  We  are  surrounded  by  a  world  of  spirit-life. 

(2)  This  is  the  world  which  we  mean  by  the  realm 
of  subconsciousness. 

(3)  It  is  the  world  of  our  dreams. 

(4)  It  is  the  place  where  all  our  thoughts  are  stored. 

(5)  It  is  the  place  from  which  we  came  at  birth,  and 
to  which  we  go  immediately  after  we  leave  this  life. 

(6)  It  is  the  "Place  of  Departed  Spirits"  into  which 

Christ  went. 

(7)  It  is  Paradise  to  some,  and  torment  to  others. 

(8)  It  is  from  this  world  that  many  intuitive  ideas, 
fleeting  recollections  of  a  previous  life,  presentiments 
of  the  future,  and  instinctive  motives  emerge. 

(9)  It  is  from  thence  that  many  internal  suggestions 

come. 

(10)  It  is  a  state  of  perpetual  progress  towards  umty. 

(11)  This  progress  may  be  accomplished  by  Reincar- 
nation. 

(12)  It  will  last  till  the  Day  of  the  General  Resurrec- 
tion. 


127 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  EXPLANATORY  OF 
THE  RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION  OF  CHRIST. 

As  to  the  historical  facts  that  a  person  named  Jesus, 
of  Nazareth,  was  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate,  and  that 
his  followers  asserted  that  their  master  rose  again  from 
the  dead  in  accordance  with  a  promise  He  had  made 
to  them  some  time  before,  there  does  not  appear  to  be 
much  questioning.    Some  of  those  who  doubt  the  truth 
of  the  Scripture  narrative  take  the  position  that  He  was 
not  really  dead.     They  may  urge  several  arguments  in 
support  of  this  view.    The  events  happened  a  long  time 
ago,  when  people  were  more  credulous  and  easily  de- 
ceived.    The  burial  was  not  a  covering  with  earth, 
which  woidd  have  ensured  suffocation,  if  the  person  had 
been  simulating  death,  but  merely  the  placing  in  a  cave, 
and  that  at  the  hands  of  friends.     It  is  not  impossible 
that  the  Centurion,  who  had  charge  of  the  execution, 
may  have  been  the  same  whose  son  Jesus  had  cured, 
and  that  he  out  of  gratitude  contrived  His  escape.    By 
appearing  to  wound  Him  in  the  side,  he  might  prevent 
the  others  from  breaking  His  legs,  as  those  of  the  two 
thieves  were  broken.    It  may  also  be  not  unreasonably 
suggested  that  Pilate,  whose  wife,  we  know,  was  favor- 
able to  our  Lord,  may  have  been  a  party  to  the  plan,  and 
thereby  eased  his  conscience,  and  at  the  same  time 
pleased    the    Jews.      The    following    considerations 

128 


should   satisfy    us    of    the    improbability    of     these 
explanations: 

(i)  We  must  remember  that  the  vengeful  Jews  were 
present,  at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  watching  every  move- 
ment of  the  Roman  executioners,  and  gloating  over  the 
tortures  of  their  Victim.  It  is  incredible  that,  having 
pursued  Him  thus  far,  they  would  leave  Him  until  per- 
fectly convinced  of  His  death. 

(2)  Our  Lord  had  clearly  foreseen  and  accurately 
described  His  crucifixion,  as  far  back  as  His  conversation 
with  Nicodemus,  when  He  compared  Himself  to  the 
serpent  impaled  by  Moses  and  raised  aloft  to  heal  the 
bitten  Israelites.  It  is  in  the  highest  degree  improbable 
that  such  a  plan  for  connivance  could  then  have  existed. 

(3)  There  is  to  be  considered  the  awful  risk  to  one 
undertaking  a  mock  crucifixion,  even  though  assured 
of  the  connivance  of  the  Centurion,  or,  perhaps,  of  the 
Roman  Governor  himself.  The  cruel  scourging,  and 
the  crown  of  thorns  are  not  favorable  to  this  hypothesis. 
The  nail  wounds  in  hands  and  feet  are  against  it.  If 
the  Centurion  had  really  desired  to  save  our  Lord's  life, 
he  might  have  boimd  him  to  the  cross  with  cords,  which, 
as  tradition  says,  he  did  in  the  case  of  the  thieves. 

(4)  This  hypothesis  implies  that  Our  Lord  foresaw 
the  decision  at  which  the  Sanhedrim  should  arrive. 
Though  it  may  have  been  a  foregone  conclusion  from 
the  hate  which  they  bore  Him,  yet  no  merely  human 
being  could  foresee  with  absolute  accuracy  the  decisions 
which  would  be  reached  by  a  deliberative  body  com- 
posed of  the  chief  men  of  the  nation.  Amongst  them 
were  some  favorable  to  Him,  and  their  influence  might 


129 


h 


;,THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATIONS 

have  changed  the  verdict.  Even  if  He  had  been  assured 
beforehand  of  Pilate's  intention  to  befriend  Him,  there 
was  a  third  person,  Herod,  in  whose  power  His  life  was 
placed.  Some  other  form  of  execution  might  have  been 
adopted.  Stoning,  or  some  death  other  than  crucifixion, 
might  have  been  decided  on.  To  admit  that  He  knew 
beforehand  how  all  of  these  uncertainties  would  event- 
uate, with  such  definiteness  that  He  could  promise 
His  Disciples  to  rise  again  after  His  crucifixion,  would 
be  to  admit  His  Supernatural  Power. 

(5)  The  principle  objection  to  the  position  appears  to 
be  its  utter  lack  of  harmony  with  the  whole  life  and 
character  of  our  Saviour.  It  implies  that  He  was  a 
deliberate  deceiver.  Even  the  bitterest  opponent  of 
Christianity  must  hesitate  before  breathing  such  a 
suspicion  against  the  Sublime  Man  of  Sorrows. 
^  Another  ground,  which  may  be  taken  by  the  unbeliever, 
is  that  He  was  really  dead,  but  that  He  did  not  rise; 
that  His  body  was  stolen  by  His  disciples,  who  fabricated 
Ihe  stories  of  His  reappearance.  This  was  the  excuse 
given  the  Roman  soldiers  at  the  suggestion,  we  are  told, 
of  the  chief  priests,  when  it  was  discovered  that  the 
tomb  was  empty.  We  know  that  this  was  the  accepted 
theory  amongst  the  Jews  and  other  enemies  of  Christ 
down  to  the  time  when  St.  Matthew  wrote  his  Gospel. 
This  appears  to  be  the  strongest  position  that  an  un- 
behever  can  take.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  that  the 
body  may  have  been  stolen  while  the  guards  were  asleep, 
or  even  by  their  connivance.  The  following  considera- 
tions, however,  should,  in  our  estimation,  satisfy  un- 
prejudiced minds  that  there  is  no  truth  in  this  position: 


130 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

(i)  It  has  been  declared  a  moral  impossibility  that 
the  Apostles  could  act  so  wicked,  and  deceitful,  a  part. 
While  it  may  not  have  been  impossible,  all  fair-minded 
persons  will  admit  that  it  is  in  the  highest  degree  im- 
probable. Individuals,  of  lofty  personal  character  may 
be  found  in  history,  who  have  yielded,  under  the  stress 
of  circumstances,  to  meanness  and  deceit ;  but  it  is  highly 
incredible  that,  without  an  adequate  motive,  such  a 
part  could  have  been  played  by  a  body  of  men  who  after- 
wards showed  themselves  clear-headed  thinkers  and 
organizers,  and  exhibited  the  most  heroic  endurance  and 
the  noblest  self-sacrifice.  ,      , 

(2)  We  should  expect  serious  discrepancies  m  the 
various  accounts  of  our  Lord's  reappearances,  upon  the 
supposition  that  they  were  fabricated.  None  occurs.  We 
should  also  expect  in  the  chroniclers  some  air  of  self- 
consciousness  and  undue  emphasis,  of  which  not  a  trace 
can  be  found.  Speaking  of  this.  Canon  Westcott  says 
in  his  "Gospel  of  the  Resurrection" :" The  evangelists 
treat  the  Resurrection  as  simply,  unaffectedly,  inartifi- 
cially,  as  everything  else  which  they  touch.  The  mir- 
acle seems  to  them  to  form  a  natural  part  of  the 
Lord's  history.  They  show  no  consciousness  that  it 
needs  greater,  or  fuller,  authentication  than  the  other 
events  of  His  life.  A  knowledge  of  the  chief  events  in 
the  Lord's  ministry,  including  the  Resurrection,  and  a 
general  conviction  of  their  reality  and  significance, 
is  everywhere  assumed  in  the  Apostolic  writings." 

(3)  If  we  regard  this  as  a  conspiracy  to  deceive,  the 
comparativelv  large  number  of  persons  engaged  in  it 
would  render  it  improbable  that  the  secret  could  have 

131 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

been  faithfuUy  kept.  Our  Lord  showed  Himself  alive 
to  over  five  hundred  persons  at  different  times,  and 
m  different  places,  after  He  had  been  crucified  and 
buned.  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  the  majority  of  these  were 
still  alive  when  he  wrote  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corin- 
thians. The  claim  was  made  openly,  and  was  not  de- 
nied by  any  of  these.  It  is  indeed  hard  to  .believe 
that  a  fraud  of  this  kind  could  have  been  successfully 
maintained  under  these  circumstances. 

(4)  The  sudden  change  that  came  over  the  Apostles 
requires  an  extraordinary  event,  such  as  the  Resurrection, 
to  account  for  it.  |.  They  sprang  from  timidity  to  bold- 
ness, from  dejection  to  joy;  and  nothing  affords  a  satis- 
factory reason  for  this,  but  the  stimulus  of  such  a  mir- 
acle. 

(5)  Fanatics,  carried  away  by  false  beliefs,  which 
seem  true  to  them,  may  be  willing  to  die  in  their  defense; 
but  It  IS  improbable  that  a  number  of  clear-headed  men 
would  bear  the  severest  persecutions  with  patience, 
suffer  torture,  and  die  cheerfully,  praying  that  their 
enemies  might  be  forgiven;  all  for  a  He  which  they  them- 
selves had  originated  and  knew  to  be  false.  Especially 
does  this  appear  true  when  we  consider  that  they  had 
nothing  to  gain  by  persisting  in  such  an  incredible 
story,  which  appealed  to  no  class,  sect,  or  nation,  and 
which  brought  upon  them  the  ridicule  of  both  ignorant 
slaves  and  learned  Greeks. 

(6)  The  narratives  that  describe  our  Lord^s  appear- 
ance after  His  resurrection  bear  truthfuhiess  on  their 
face.  What  could  be  more  simple  and  natural  than  the 
story  of  Mary  Magdalene;  of  her  coming  to  her  Master^s 


132 


•NH 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

tomb,  mistaking  Him  for  the  gardener,  and  of  His  loviiig 
but  dignified  revelation  of  Himself?  Blunt,  in  his 
valuable  work  on  the  undesigned  co-incidences  in  the 
Bible,  points  out  the  harmony  of  the  Scripture  narrative 
concemmg  Peter  and  John,  and  the  manner  in  which 
they  approached  the  tomb  with  the  character  and  age 
of  each.  John,  being  the  younger  and  more  active, 
reached  the  tomb  first;  but  Peter,  with  characteristic 
boldness,  was  the  first  to  enter.  If  internal  evidence, 
vivid  realism,  and  fidelity  to  details,  have  any  value, 
then,  assuredly,  is  this  story  no  fabrication.  If  such  a 
thing  had  happened,  what  would  have  been  more 
probable,  antecedently,  than  that,  when  He  showed  Him- 
self to  the  eleven  some  would  have  doubted  as  Thomas 
did;  and  what  reply  would  be  more  probable,  antece- 
dently, than  that  our  Lord  would  show  His  lacerated 
hands  and  feet,  thereby  convincing  them  not  only  of  His 
continued  identity,  but  that  His  body  was  the  same  that 
He  wore  before  His  death.  The  story  of  His  appear- 
ance on  the  way  to  Emmaus  is  stamped  with  truth  in 
every  detail;  and  His  departure  into  Galilee  was  also 
highly  probable  antecedently. 

(7)  The  objection  is  raised  that,  in  each  case  our 
Lord  revealed  Himself  only  to  His  friends  whose 
testimony  should  not  have  the  same  value  as  that  of 
independent  witnesses.  Canon  Westcott  apdy  replies 
that  Saul,  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  was  an  enemy  when 
our  Lord  revealed  Himself  to  him. 

(8)  There  is  no  force  in  the  suggestion  that  the 
Apostles  may  have  been  deceived  by  some  one  who  per- 
sonated the  Saviour,  since  our  Lord  revealed  Himself 


133 


I 


L-i^'..«-i<JUJCaii' 


^'^'Hgrt:u»-.^-r-ri 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

at  different  times,  and  in  different  places,  and  to  such  a 
krge  number  of  people,  even  eating  with  them  to  con- 
vince them  of  His  reality. 

(9)  If  the  ground  be  shifted  by  the  Higher  Critics 
to  the  question  of  the  authenticity,  or  genuineness  of 
the  Gospel  narrative,  Canon  Westcott  says:  "No  one 
doubts  that  the  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  Galatians, 
and  Romans  were  composed  by  St.  Paul  and  addressed 
to  the  churches  whose  name  they  bear.  Nor  is  there 
much  uncertainty  as  to  the  date  at  which  they  were 
written.  The  most  extreme  opinions  fix  them  between 
A.  D.  52  and  A.  D.  59,  that  is,  under  no  circumstances 
more  than  thirty  years  after  our  Lord's  death.  In  each 
of  these  epistles  the  literal  fact  of  the  Resurrection  is 
the  implied,  or  acknowledged,  groundwork  of  the 
Apostles'  teaching.  Writmg  to  the  Corinthians,  St.  Paul 
says: 

"I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which  also  I 
received,  how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according 
to  the  Scriptures;  and  that  He  was  buried;  and  that  He 
hath  been  raised  on  the  third  day,  according  to  the 
Scriptures;  and  that  He  appeared  to  Cephas;  then  to 
the  twelve;  then  He  appeared  to  above  five  hundred 
brethren  at  once,  of  whom  the  greater  part  remain  until 
now,  but  some  are  fallen  asleep;  then  He  appeared  to 
James;  then  to  all  the  Apostles.  And,  last  of  all,  as  unto 
one  bom  out  of  due  time.  He  appeared  to  me  also— 
Whether,  then,  it  be  I  or  they,  so  we  preach,  and  so  ye 
believed."  Apart  therefore  from  the  gospel  narratives, 
or  from  any  source  which  has  ever  been  questioned, 
we  find  in  these  words,  admitted  by  all  critics  to  be 


134 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

genuine  and  authentic,  a  clear  statement  of  at  least 
six  different  occasions  upon  which  our  Lord  showed 
Himself  to  competent  witnesses  after  He  had  been  pub- 
Ucly  put  to  death.  Canon  Westcott  certainly  makes  a 
reasonable  statement  when  he  says:  "Indeed,  taking  all 
the  evidence  together,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  there 
is  no  single  historic  incident  better  or  more  variously 
supported  than  the  Resurrection  of  Christ."  To  all  un- 
biassed readers  of  history  Dr.  Arnold's  dictum  on  this 
subject  will  have  serious  weight:  "I  have  been  used  for 
many  years,"  he  says,  "to  study  the  history  of  other 
times,  and  to  examine  and  weigh  the  evidences  of  those 
who  have  written  about  them;  and  I  know  of  no  one 
fact  in  the  history  of  mankind  which  is  proved  by 
better  and  fuller  evidence  of  every  sort,  to  the  mind  of  a 
fair  inquirer,  than  that  Christ  died  and  rose  again  from 

the  dead."  ^      ,     . 

The  following  inferences  occur  to  us  as  antecedently 
probable,  according  to  our  theory,  of  the  triumph  of 
unity  or  condensation: 

(i)  If  God  has,  so  to  speak,  distributed  Himself  by 
a  voluntary  admixture  of  Himself  with  non-being,  and 
if  He  continually  draws  together  atoms  and  molecules, 
holding  them  in  an  organism  which  Satan  is  always 
destroying,  we  should  expect  Him  to  incarnate  each 
finite  portion  of  Himself,  over  and  over  again,  in  new 
resurrections,  as  the  process  of  condensation  continues. 
Each  act  of  disintegration  is  the  death  of  a  molecule 
or  of  a  body.  Each  act  of  unification;  whether  it  be  of 
chemical  affinity,  molecular  cohesion,  or  gravitation, 
or  in  a  higher  sphere,  of  beauty,  goodness,  or  truth, 
is  a  resurrection. 

^35 


«' 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

(2)  In  the  breaking  of  muscular  tissue  by  exercise 
in  the  movement  of  nerve  force  by  thought,  in  the 
sloughing  of  scales  from  the  epidermis  we  see  that 
thousands  of  deaths  take  place  daily  in  our  living 
bodies.  In  the  renewed  strength  and  growth  of  muscle 
the  repair  of  brain  waste,  the  healing  of  wounds  we  see 
thousands  of  resurrections.  It  is  a  fair  inference  that 
what  we  see  daily  occurring  in  the  minute  organisms 
that  form  a  human  body  should  occur  in  the  body 
as  a  whole.  We  see  death  followed  by  resurrection 
continuously  in  the  case  of  all  the  lower  collections  of 
units,  and  we  naturally  expect  the  same  in  the  higher. 

(3)  We  should  expect  a  priori,  the  highest  organ- 
ism we  know,  namely  the  human  race  as  a  whole,  after 
It  has  played  its  part  on  this  planet,  to  emerge  into 
a  higher  hfe  and  renewed  activity,  as  we  see  in  the  case 
of  the  inferior  organisms. 

(4)  If  we  believe  that  the  soul  that  incarnated  itself 
in  the  man  Christ  Jesus  came  directly  from  the  centre 
of  the  universe  to  this  earth,  and  gathered  together 
certain  elements  of  oxygen,  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  what 
not  m  the  form  of  what  we  call  a  human  body,  to  be 
both  God  and  man,  and  to  lift  mankind  up  to  His 
stature,  we  should  expect  that  this  Divine-Human  or- 
gamsm,  in  order  to  be  a  perfect  representation  of  the 
race  organism,  and  to  adequately  typefy  its  future, 
would  aUow  itself  to  be  temporarily  dissolved  and 
resurrected. 

(5)  As  He  is  an  ideal  representative  of  the  race,  and 
the  first  fruits  of  that  higher  form  which  the  race 
organism  shall  take  after  it  has  hved  its  life  here,  we 

136 


,"1^ 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


should  expect  the  mode  of  our  Lord's  resurrection,  in  all 
its  details,  to  afford  as  perfect  a  picture,  of  our  next 
union  of  body  and  soul  as  God  wishes  us  to  have  here. 

(6)  Viewing  the  question  from  an  ^  priori  standpoint, 
it  would  be  as  easy  for  a  soul  to  take  unto  itself  an  adult 
body  which  it  had  recently  discarded,  as  to  take  upon 
itself  an  infant  body  at  birth;  and  an  ordinary  birth  is 
antecedently  a  greater  miracle  than  that  the  soul  of 
our  Lord  should  leave  his  body  on  the  cross,  and,  after 
spending  seventy-two  hours  in  Paradise  and  the  Place 
of  Departed  Spirits,  should  return  to  the  body  lying  in 
the  tomb,  command  its  atoms  to  resume  their  former 
occupations,  and  once  more  make  the  body  rise  and 

obey  it. 

(7)  We  should  expect  the  resurrected  body  to  be  the 
same  in  appearance  as  it  was  before  death;  for,  since  it 
is  a  type  of  the  bodies  at  the  general  resurrection,  it  is 
in  accordance  with  our  ideas"  of  God's  justice  that  the 
faces  and  forms  we  have  learned  to  love  here  will  be  per- 
petuated beyond. 

'^(8)  We  should  also  expect  that  while  the  body  would 
present  indisputable  marks  of  its  continued  identity,  it 
would  also  evince  new  qualities  and  higher  powers  in  its 
glorified  state. 

(9)  The  description  of  our  Lord's  body  after  it  had 
come  forth  from  the  tomb  accords  with  our  cl  priori  ex- 
pectations. Its  continued  identity  is  clearly  proved  by 
the  fact  that  the  disciples  recognized  Him  and  by  the 
wounds  which  He  showed.  On  the  other  hand,  Mary 
Magdalene  and  the  two  disciples  on  the  way  to  Emmaus 
did  not  recognize  Him  immediately;  and  the  description 


137 


' 


'I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

of  His  appearance  is  very  like  that  of  His  transfiguration; 
and  that  His  resurrected  body  had  new  powers  we  find 
attested  by  His  passing  through  closed  doors. 

The  ascension  of  our  Lord,  both  as  to  its  antecedent 
probability  and  as  to  the  actual  manner  of  its  occur- 
rence, is  singularly  corroborative  of  our  theory. 

(i)  The  ancient  Egyptians,  and  other  Oriental  nations, 
regarded  the  stars  and  other  heavenly  bodies  as  having 
a  definite  and  close  relationship  to  the  earth,  and  a  direct 
influence  upon  the  destinies  of  its  inhabitants.  It  was 
a  natural,  and  certainly  not  unreasonable,  expectation. 

(2)  On  the  earth  we  see  that  the  tiniest  organism 
has  a  fixed  relationship  to  other  similar  organisms  and, 
with  them,  forms  a  higher  organism ;  which  in  its  turn, 
together  with  others,  forms  one  still  higher.  For  ex- 
ample: The  heart  of  a  man,  though  an  organism  in  it- 
self, is  made  up  of  thousands  of  smaller  organisms; 
and  the  heart,  brain,  lungs,  and  other  organs,  to- 
gether form  the  organism  which  we  call  theh)dy;and 
this  body,  and  others  together  form  the  state  and  the 
race.  Following  out  the  same  process,  it  is  not  un- 
reasonable to  expect  that  the  universe,  as  a  whole,  may 
be  an  organism  with  all  its  parts  dynamically  and  sub- 
consciously related  to  each  other. 

(3)  The  distance  which  separates  the  heavenly  bodies 
does  not  militate  against  this  supposition.  A  thing 
which  seems  to  us  to  be  a  solid  and  unbroken  unit  is  in 
reality  composed  of  thousands  of  smaller  organisms,  each 
separate  from  the  others  by  what  may  be  for  it  a  con- 
siderable distance.  To  God,  Who  looks  at  them  from 
Heaven,  the  planets  may  appear  as  close  together  as  the 

138 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

:  orpusclcs  in  our  blood  appear  to  us  to  be;  and  the 
material  universe,  as  a  whole,  may  appear  as  compact 
to  God  as  my  human  body  appears  to  me. 

(4)  The  human  mind  instinctively  inclines  to  the 
belief  that  our  earth  has  its  part  to  play  in  the  whole 
scheme,  and  that  some  day  we  shall  know  fully  what 

that  part  is. 

(5)  The  fact  that  from  his  birth  man  grows  in  knowl- 
edge, combined  with  the  fact  that  the  human  race  as  a 
whole  has  been  similarly  growing  from  its  beginning, 
leads  naturally  to  the  inference  that  this  process  of 
growth  in  knowledge  will  continue  until  the  human  race 
knows  all  that  is  to  be  known  upon  this  earth,  and,  that, 
in  order  that  the  growth  may  still  continue,  it  must 
remove  to  a  higher  sphere. 

(6)  A  belief  in  the  benevolence  of  the  Creator 
strengthens  this  view,  because  it  is  unlikely  that  such  a 
Being  would  implant  in  us  curiosities,  desires,  and  long- 
ings that  He  never  meant  to  satisfy. 

(7)  We  should  expect  therefore  that,  sometime  during 
the  history  of  life  on  this  planet,  communication  would 
be  opened  up  between  it  and  some  of  the  other  spheres 
with  which  it  is  connected  in  the  great  scheme;  and,  if 
there  is  one  central  sphere  from  which  the  motions  of 
all  are  governed,  we  should  expect  to  hear  from  this 
first. 

(8)  What  is  the  story  of  the  incarnation,  death, 
resurrection,  and  ascension  of  our  blessed  Lord,  but  the 
story  of  a  flying  visit  made  to  this  planet  by  a  resident 
of  another?  It  exactly  fulfils  our  expectations  of  such 
a  visit.    It  explains  the  past  history  of  man  and  his 


139 


11 


"VSSK 


-.-■f-- 


'i 


111 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

future  destiny.  It  has  given  an  ideal  to  which  the  whole 
race  can  work  up,  and,  at  the  same  time,  it  has  provided 
the  organized  mechanism  of  the  Church  to  bring  about 
this  final  elevation. 

(9)  Before  his  ascension  our  Lord  expressly  declared 
to  His  followers  that  in  His  father's  home  were  many 
mansions  and  that,  upon  His  return  there,  He  would 
make  preparations  for  the  reception  of  some  of  this 
earth's  inhabitants. 

(10)  We  have  seen  that  what  we  call  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation is  merely  a  human  view  of  a  universal  mode  of 
God's  working,  whereby  He  holds  bodies  together  in  a 
large  organism,  just  as  Be.  holds  molecules  together  in  a 
small  one,  or  atoms  in  a  molecule.   We  have  seen  that 
our  Lord  had  control  of  atomic  aflGbities,  when  He 
changed  the  water  into  wine;  of  the  afiinities  of  mole- 
cules, when  He  passed  through  closed  doors;  and  we 
would  naturally  expect  some  evidence  of  control  of  the 
attractions  and  affinities  that  larger  bodies  have  for 
each  other.    The  law  that  bound  Him  to  the  earth 
was  nothing  more  or  less  than  the  direct  exercise  of  the 
will-power  of  God,  partly  inherent  in  the  material 
fragments  of  His  being,  partially  resident  in  our  Lord's 
spiritual  environment  which  we  call  the  world  of  sub- 
consciousness, but  chiefly  transmitted  to  Him  directly 
from  the  central  sphere.    The  divine  power  and  self- 
consciousness  into  which  He  had  by  this  time  grown 
would  probably  ensure  His  ability  to  suspend  the  law 
of  gravitation  without ''a  special  eflux  of  power  trans- 
mitted from  the  central  sphere;  yet  such  the  Father  may 
have  given  Him. 


140 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

(11)  We  beiieve  that  our  Lord  not  only  ascended 
bodily  to  Heaven  but  also  that  He  remains  there,  seated 
at  the  right  hand  of  God  on  high. 

St.  Stephen  in  the  act  of  dying  and  St.  John  on  the 
isle  of  Patmos  saw  their  risen  Lord  by  a  special  illumi- 
nation, and  recognized  Him  in  this  position.  It  may  be 
stated  that  such  a  grossly  anthropomorphic  conception 
of  God  cannot  be  a  philosophical  one.    We  reply  that 
it  is  reasonable  and  intelUgible.    Stephen  looked  up 
into  Heaven  and  saw  something  that  was  really  there, 
and  had  as  much  power  to  convince  him  of  its  reality  as 
the  living  human  form  of  Jesus  had  when  it  was  on 
the  earth.    It  is  just  as  philosophical  to  say  that  our 
Lord  is  actually  sitting  with  His  human  body,  which 
we  would  recognize  as  His,  if  we  were  there,  at  the  nght 
hand  of  the  Father  on  an  actual  material  throne,  and 
that  the  Father,  the  Son,  the  throne,  and  the  assembled 
saints  are  really  there,  as  it  is  for  me  to  say  tlmt 
the  stones  and  trees  and  houses  that  I  see  on  the 
earth  are   really  here.    The  stones  and  trees    I  see 
look  differently  to  me  when  I  inspect  them  through  a 
microscope,  and  I  cannot  teU  what  they  would  appear 
to  beings  constituted   differently  from  myself.    What 
they  are  in  themselves  I   cannot   tell;   but   as   they 
always   appear  to  me  to  possess  the  groups  of  quahties 
that  I  designate  stone  and  trees,  I  describethese  per- 
sistent occurrences  by  saying  that  the  stones  and  trees 
are  real  objects.    As  God  is  in  Heaven  He  may  be 
without  body,  parts,  or  passions;  and  yet  He  may  take 
to  Himself  shapes  and  appearances,  for  faculties  hke 
St.  Stephen's,  which  would  be  as  real  as  the  stones  and 


141 


'I' 


I 


i1 


I  • 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

trees  are  to  me.  What  we  mean  when  we  say  we  believe 
that  our  Lord  is  seated  on  the  righthand  of  God  is  that, 
if  we  had  faculties  of  perception  exactly  like  those  of 
the  dying  St.  Stephen,  and  if  we,  with  those  faculties, 
looked  upward,  we  should  at  this  very  moment  see  the 
same  throne,  and  the  same  Lord  Jesus  Christ  that  he 
saw.  Yet,  at  the  same  time,  we  may  believe  that  what 
is  really  there,  in  the  strict  metaphysical  sense  of 
reality,  is  absolute  Unity. 

We  also  believe  that  when  the  evolution  of  man  has 
been  completed  upon  the  earth,  and  all  the  individual 
members  of  Christ  have  grown  into  complete  unity,  the 
Bridegroom  will  come  to  the  earth  and  receive  unto 
Himself  the  Bride,  which  is  His  wider  Body,  perfected 
and  sanctified  by  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  and 
the  new  Adam  shall  live  upon  the  earth  during  the  mil- 
ienial  period.  This  implies  a  discrimination  or  a 
judgment  between  the  individual  members  of  the  new 
Adam  and  the  individual  members  of  the  old,  the  latter 
of  whom  must  be  cast  upon  a  new  planet  not  sufficiently 
cooled  to  be  described  as  anything  but  a  lake  of  fire; 
and  as  our  sun  will,  by  that  time,  have  probably  cooled 
down  into  a  planet,  everything  points  to  the  conclusion 
ihat  the  Sun  will  be  the  abode  of  the  finally  impenitent 
and   the  unbaptized. 


142 


I' 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  EXPLANATORY 
OF  THE  PHENOMENA  OF  PENTECOST  AND  THE  WORK 
OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST. 

The  Holy  Ghost  appears  to  be  the  whole  spirit  of 
God  manifesting  Himself  locally   at   specific   times. 
Space  and  time  are  necessary  conditions  of  sensuous  per- 
ception, or  of  any  intelligible  notion  whatever.    While 
spirit,  as  it  is  in  reality,  may  not  be  limited  by  time  and 
space,  it  must  be  so  to  be  recognized  by  us.    For  God, 
as  He  is  in  Himself,  there  may  be  no  past  or  future  but 
only  a  never-ending  present;  but, as  He  makes  Himself 
known  to  us,  there  is  a  regular  sequence  in  His  actions 
that  take   place  at   different  times   and  in  different 
localities.    We  naturally  regard  our  souls  as  having  a 
local  connection  with  our  human  bodies,  and  usually  be- 
lieve that  this  local  connection  has  a  beginning  in  time, 
i,  e.,  that  it  commences  with  our  birth.    It  is  plain  that 
such  a  connection  is  a  natural  one  to  assume  for  the 
sake  of  intelligibility.    The  Holy  Spirit  of  God  may 
have  no  local  habitation,  or  no  beginning  or  ending;  but, 
for  the  sake  of  bringing  Himself  within  the  grasp  of  a 
human  understanding,  He  may  manifestHimself  locally 
upon  this  earth,  and  more  particularly  at  one  time  than 

another. 

Our  first  mention  of  the  Spirit  occurs  in  Genesis  I:  2, 
"And  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void;  and  darkness 


^43 


I: 


.1 

■    ll 


»'! 


r 


.  ► 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

was  upon  the  face  of^the  deep;  and  the^Spiritof  God 
moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."^In  the  eleventh 
verse  of  the  fifty-first  Psalm,  David "^said,  "Take  not 
Thy  Holy  Spirit  from  me."    He  was  conscious  of  re- 
ceiving guidance  and  comfort  from  the  "Spirit  of  God"; 
and  that  this  Spirit  is  identical  with  the  Holy  Ghost  our 
Lord  Himself  implies  when  He  says  in  the  thirty-sixth 
verse  of  the  twelfth  chapter  of  Mark:  "For  David  him- 
self said,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  The  Lord  said  to  my 
Lord,  Sit  Thou  on  my  right  hand,  till  I  make  thine  en- 
emies thy  footstool."     The  work  of  redemption  was 
accomplished  with  the  assistance  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
inasmuch  as  it  was  He  that  conceived  the  human  body 
of  the  Redeemer,  nourished  it,  descended  upon  it  at 
His  baptism,  and  gradually  filled  it  with  all  the  fukess 
of  the  Godhead.    Elizabeth  and  Zacharias  were  both 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.    Notwithstanding  all  this, 
we  read  in  the  seventh  chapter,  thirty-ninth  verse,  of 
St.  John's  Gospel:  "But  this  spake  He  of  the  Spirit 
which  they  that  believe  on  Him  should  receive:  for  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given  because  that  Jesus  was 
not  yet  glorified."    In  the  fourteenth  chapter  and  six- 
teenth verse  of  St.  John's  Gospel  he  says:    "I  will  pray 
the  Father  and  He  shall  give  you  another  Comforter 
that  He  may  abide  with  you  forever." 

From  these  records  it  is  plain  that,  though  the  Spirit  of 
God  did  manifest  Himself  at  different  places  in  the 
history  of  the  world  prior  to  the  day  of  Pentecost,  He 
did  not,  until  that  time ,  manifest  Himself  as  the  Holy 
Ghost  with  this  peculiar  work  to  do  which  we  find  Him 
fulfilling  in  the  subsequent  history  of  the  human  race. 


ill 


144 


cK. 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

The  personaUty  of  the  Holy  Ghost  may  be  impressed 
uDon  us  by  a  brief  general  consideration  of  the  subject 
Bosts.    We  behave  that  our  Ufe  comes  roni  God, 
!nd  Xt  our  souls  are  Uttle  sparks  of  His  divinity ;  yet 
we  believe  that  each  has  a  personaUty  distmct  also  from 
Aat  of  God.    My  personality  is  composed  of  all  my 
Speri  nces.  from  infancy  to  death,  Unked  together  by 
2u-consciousness   and   the   recogmtion   of   my   own 
identity  amidst  the  changing  environments  of  my  hfe- 
time     After  I  am  dead,  this  total  personahty,  or  group 
of  experiences,  co-ordmated  in  space  and  sequential  in 
le!Cy  continue  to  exist  independently  of  the  matend 
^ric  of  my  body.    This  continued  personahty  I  call 
my  ghost.     It  is  myself,  my  ego,  transported  to  a  new 
Sere.    It  retains  all  my  recollections  and  affections, 
a&  the  moral  and   inteUectual  characteristics  of  my 
earthly  self  belong  to  it.    It  may  be  divorced  from 
matter  altogether,  or  it  may  gather  around  itself,  accord- 
ing to  the  popular  idea  of  a  ghost,  a  body  of  so  fine  a 
texture  as  to  be  generaUy  mvisible  to  us. 

The  soul  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Chnst  ascended  with  His 
body  to  the  central  sphere  of  the  universe ;  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  with  a  new  work  before  Him,  having  received 
"good  rifts  for  men",  descended  upon  the  Apostles 
aLmbkd  in  the  upper  room.  Just  as  the  soul  of  our 
Lord  on  the  earth  gathered  and  held  together  a  multitude 
of  atoms  in  one  body,  so  the  Holy  Ghost  canie  to  earth 
to  gather  and  hold  together  a  multitude  of  complex 
organisms,  namely  human  beings,  f  one  t)ody. 

Singular  phenomena  accompamed  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  at  Paitecost :  "  And  suddenly  there  came  a  sound 

145  i 


11 


rii 


t\ 


I  { 


j| 


fHE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

from  heaven  as  of  a  rushing  mighty  wind,  and  it  filleH 
all  the  house  where  they  were  sitting;  and  there  ap- 
peared unto  them  cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire  and  it  sat 
upon  each  of  them;  and  they  were  all  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  began  to  speak  with  other  tongues  as 
the  Spint  gave  them  utterance.''— Acts  II:  2,  3,  and  4 
The  cloven  tongues  of  fire  were  apparently  a  mani- 
festation of  electricity;  and  the  laying  on  of  hands,  by 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  was  communicated,  indicates 
that  the  laws  of  magnetism  and  electric  phenomena 
were,  and  are,  used  in  His  operations  upon  man. 

We  would  not  attempt  to  explain  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  by  speculations  on  electricity,  but  rather 
would  explain  electric  unifying  force  and  magnetism 
as  outward  and  visible  signs  of  an  inward  and 
spintual  grace,  conveyed  by  the  Holy  Ghost  upon 
men.  ^ 

Things  are  what  they  are  by  virtue  of  the  peculiar 
affinities  of  their  atoms  or  molecules,  and  these  aflinities 
depend  upon  a  power  transmitted  from  Heaven. 
1  his  transmission  of  power  from  God  to  the  objects 
of  the  universe  appears  to  be  brought  about  by  His  im- 
parting  a  spiral  impulse  to  atoms  or  molecules,  from 
left  to  right,  or  from  right  to  left.  The  phenomena  of 
electricity  are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  mani- 
festations  of  the  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  whirling  and 
rotating  all  parts  of  the  universe,  whether  they  be  mighty 
planets  or  tiny  molecules  of  hydrogen.  A  human  h)dy 
IS  an  accumulation  of  minute  molecules  in  countless 
number,  each  of  which  is  whirled  about  in  a  particular 
manner,  and  for  a  particular  purpose  by  the  Spirit  of 

146 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

CnA     When  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  the 
fin  bodks  of  the  apostles,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 
Se  w^  introduced  a  new  process  of  atomic  or  mole- 
S  whirling,  by  the  same  spiritual  power  but  with  a 
£  pu^ose.  ^  By  this  change  in  the  vibratory  or  rota^ 
^nTion  of  their  atoms  or  molecules,  the  bodies  of  the 
Ses  were  possessed  of  a  new  magnetic  potency. 
Se  o7  being  transmitted  by  personal  contact  to 
Xr  men,  and  efpecially  by  the  act  of  laying  t^  l^nj 
of  the  transmitter  upon  the  had  of  the  recipient. 
BeforePentecost  the  Spiritof  God  moved  all  the  matenal 
atci  0    Se  universe,  including  the  atoms  of  eve^r 
S  body;  but  upon  that  day  as  afterwards,  pmceed- 
w  not  only  from  the  Father  but  also  through  and  from 
he  penality  of  the  Man-God,  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
H^  imoTrted  to  the  atoms  of  the  human  frame  a  new  hfe 
fnd  newSS  s.    We  must  discriminate  between  the 
S  of  God   in  His  general  work  throughout  the 
Srse  and  the  same'spirit  with  a  definite  work. 

possibly  limited  to  this  planet. 

When  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  the  early 
ChriSans,  there  was  a  great  enlargement  of  theirrnen^ 
ff.1  mnral  and  soiritual  faculties.  These  added  powere 
irSSe '?ift •' or  "gifts"  of  the  Hdy^G^^^^ 
such  texts  as  St.  Paul's  admonition  to  Timothy,  to  sar 
UP  the  rift  which  was  in  him  by  the  laying  on  of  St. 
K  hands,  prove  beyond  aU  doubt  that  tee  gifte 
were  transmitted  by  manual  contact.  In  Isaiah  XI.  2. 
;  kfrnthaftheseVts  are :  Wisdom,  Undegta^ng. 
Counsel,  Ghostly  Strength,  Knowledge,  True  Godbness, 
and  Holy  Fear. 

147 


J  ■ 


«: 


I: 


I 

)   I 


. 


^'1 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

No  one  would  claim  that  these  quaHties'did'not  show 
themselves  in  mankind  prior  to  the  day  of  Pentecost* 
but  what  we  must  claim  is  that,  from  that  time  onward' 
they  were  imparted  not  only  with  greater  power,  but  also 
with  a  new  and  definite  significance  unknown  before 
that  time. 

The  wisdom  imparted  by  the  Holy  Ghost  enables  a 
person  to  estmiate  correctly  the  relative  values  of  the 
things  belonging  to  this  planet  and  of  those  appertain- 
mg  to  the  whole  universe,  things  temporal  as  compared 
with  things  eternal.    It  directs  us  to  consider  our  last 
end,  which  is  God,  and  to  order  our  Uves  to  the  attain- 
ment of  it.    It  is  not  claimed  that  there  was  no  wisdom  of 
this  kind  prior  to  Pentecost.    Abraham,  Moses,  David 
and  others  of  the  Old  Testament  saints  were  eminently 
filled  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  with  a  wisdom  which  enabled 
them  to  perceive  the  vanity  of  earthly  things  as  com- 
pared with  the  universal  and  final.    At  Pentecost,  how- 
ever, the  Holy  Ghost  began  to  illuminate  men  with  a 
\ivid  sense  of  the  eternal  in  the  temporal,  of  the  pres- 
ence of  God  on  the  earth,  and  of  His  plan  to  perfect 
men  through  Christ. 

^  By  the  gift  of  understanding  the  Holy  Ghost  gradually 
miparts  a  clearer  apprehension  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
truth.  Before  Pentecost,  men  who  were  led  by  the 
Spirit,  especially  Isaiah,  had  profound  conceptions  of  the 
nature  of  God  and  of  the  mysteries  of  His  universe;  but 
with  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  the  Apostles 
came  a  new  revelation  of  these  mysteries.  That  man,  by 
reason  of  sin,  had  fallen  away  from  obedience  to  the 
Divme  will  and  was  refusing  to  play  the  part  God  wished 

148 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

him  to  play  in  the  general  scheme,  and  that,  to  overcome 
this  alienation  and  to  bring  man  once  more  m  harmony 
S  the  universe,  God  had  made  Himself  manifest  m 
Sman  flesh,  and  that  this  incarnation  would  continue 
[n  His  Church,  through  the  sacraments  until  mankind 
iould  be  restored,  these  and  other  kindred  revelations 
were  imparted  by  the  Holy  Ghost  with  a  new  and 
startling  power,  and,  from  that  day  imtil  the  present 
men  have  been  gradually  gaining  in  their  ability  to 
aDpreciate  anl  understand  them. 

By  Counsel  He  influences  the  Consaence  to  approve, 
and  the  will  to  choose,  those  things  that  make  for  m^ 
tegration.    We  cannot  doubt  that  the  Holy  Ghost  in- 
flucnced  the  consciences  of  the  Old  Testament  samts 
and  enabled  them  to  make  a  proper  choice  m  matters  of 
right  and  wrong.    Yet  we  see,carried  into  practice  by 
the  early  Christians,  a  new  code  of  etlucs,  given  m  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.    The  bitter  prejudices,  the 
pride,  cruelty,  and  lust  rampant  eveiywhere  were  op- 
posed by  the  generosity,  humiUty,  b^otherhne^^^^^^^^ 
^rity  of  those  in  whom  the  new  Spint  had  begun  to 
worL    Men  had  been  guided  by  the  Spint  of  Goodn^^^ 
before.    Now  they  were  filled  with  the  Spint  of  a  Divme 
Being  who,  entering  into  their  very  personahty,  made  of 
them  new  creatures  in  Christ. 

The  Ghostly  Strength,  which  He  imparts,  is  differ^t 
in  kind  as  well  as  degree  from  the  kind  of  help  given  by 
the  Spirit  of  God  to  men  previous  to  Pentecost,  men 
it  was  God,  shining  through  the  conscience,  but  as 
through  a  glass  darUy.  Now  there  is  the  f uU  hght  of 
God,  completely  revealed  in  the  Person  of  Our  Lord 

149 


it* 


m 


li 


•I 


I 


; 


I 


r . 


! 

ri 


i\ 


f  « 


raE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

Jesus  Christ.    Then  the  Spirit  outside  of  man  helped 
hjm.    Now  the  Holy  Ghost  enters  into  a  man  and  be- 
comes  part  of  him,  so  that  the  strength  of  the  man  is 
superseded  by  the  whole  strength  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
^   The  knowledge  with  which  the  Holy  Ghost  fills  men 
IS  a  contmuous  revelation  or  unfolding  to  us  of  the 
facts  and  laws  of  God  and  nature.    God  having  entered 
mto  our  personality  in  a  sense  different  from  that  in 
which  we  speak  of  Him  as  being  in  all  things,  or  even 
m  the  Nvisest  of  men  prior  to  Pentecost,  gradually  as- 
sumes a  larger  and  larger  portion  of  our  being  and 
crowds  out  the  Disintegrator.    He  makes  us  feel  more 
strongly  and  see  more  clearly  that  what  He  wishes  us 
to  do  tends  to  preserve  the  integrity  of  the  individual 
and  the  unity  of  society. 

, '^5J^^j9^^'^^^^^^ss  gradually  comes  upon  us,  because 
the  God  m  us  is  the  same  God  that  is  in  Heaven;  and  as 
He  assumes  a  wider  and  wider  place  in  our  personality 
those  around  us  can  see  in  us  more  of  His  attributes! 
1  his  gradual  growth  in  the  power  to  manifest  the  attri- 

u  ^^1^  f  S?^  "'''^^  ^^  ^  characteristic  of  all  in  whom 
the  Holy  Ghost  works,  and  will  end  only  when  we  know 
Him  fully  in  Heaven. 

^  As  one  grows  in  consciousness  of  the  Divine  in-dwell- 
mg,  there  comes  upon  him  greater  fear  of  offending 
trod  who  seems  so  near  and  so  important  to  him.  Holy 
fear  grows  upon  him  and  restrains  him  from  setting  his 
wiU  against  God's  until  finally  the  will  of  the  finite  shall 
have  grown  to  be  identical  with  the  will  of  the  Infinite 
and  shall  be  obedient  to  it,  and  God  shall  be  all  in  aU. 
The  twelve  fruits  of  the  Holy  Ghost  show  that  His 


ISO 


h 


I 

1 1 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

work  is  one  of  integration.    Love  is,  of  couree,  but  a 
Tn^ral  naire  for  the  principle  by  which  God  draws  to- 
Sr  auThings.  wh^therWt  principle  be  chenuc^ 
ffBnity,  molecular  cohesion,  or  gravitation  in  the  natura^ 
cXere   or  beauty,  goodness,  and  truth  m  the  human 
Sere     Joy  is  a  will  of  contentment  and  satisfaction 
hat  Sntinuously  springs  forth  in  the  soul  tlmt  is  at 
SJ  wTth  God  and  humanity.    The  martyrs  Imd  it  when 
m^st  unhappy,  »•  e.,  when  suffering  their  horrible  deaths, 
SaTSs'not  depend  upon  outward  circumsUnc^. 
Tu  upon  the  approving  voice  of  God  witlnn.   Ij »«  G^ 
in  me  pleased  with  that  part  of  Himself  which  I  ca^ 
IS  because  His  will  is  being  obeyed  and  His  great 
dSs  forwarded;  and  this  joy  appears  to  be  given 
paX  as  a  reward  for  past  obedience  and  partly  as  an 
Sive  I  further  duty.     Faith  is  the  faculty  by  which 
Sod  enables  us  to  apprehend  and  rely  upon  Hm  « 
present  in  us,  in  Heaven,  and  in  all  things;  and  by  which 
ware  gmdually  perceiving  that  He  is  drawing  aU  things 
to  ffimsdf     By  faith,  which  He  implants  m  us  35  a 
fnih  oTffi    Holy  Spirit,  He  holds  us  steadfastjn^^ 
S-reliant,  but  as  strong  only  when  umted  with  Hun. 
Mode  y    temperance,  and   chastity  are  virtues  that 
^ese?.e  the  individual,  the  family,  and  the  race  ft.m 
disease   and    disintegration.     Meekness,    gent  eness, 
peace,  long-suffering,  and  patience  are,  obviously,  the 
Characteristics  that,  in  a  way  unknown  uMd  Pentecost 
are  bringing  about  universal  unity.    Goodness  ^a 
eeneralterm,  means  a  tendency  to  unity;  for  this  tena 
fn^Ts  a  quality  of  aU  good  actions,  and  appears  to 
us  to  be  the  most  conceivable  finality. 

151 


111 


E  M 


.'■  M 


I! 


I 


I 


I  »it 


f. 


i 


I  I 


h'i 


M 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  EXPrANATOfiY 
OF  THE  ORGANIZATION  AND  AIMS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN 
CHURCH. 

VnwED  from  our  hypothesis  that  the  love  in  God  is  the 
onginator  of  aU  things,  and  the  expIanaUon  of  aU  proe- 
ress,  It  IS  more  probable,  antecedently,  that  He  who  loves 
umty  and  abhore  disintegration  would  estabUsh  on  the 
earth  one  Cathohc  and  Apostolic  Church,  than  that  He 
would  establKh  a  multitude  of  sects  wai;ing  amonS 
themselves  m  His  name.    The  evil  of  schism,  like  aU 

^1       T^'  ^T  K  *^  '"^"'^  °f  tJ^e  Disintegrator, 
thZt  i(-  9^'° '^7'^''  ^^'  temporarily,  in  orde 
^t  the  Divme  final  victory  of  unity  over  diversity  may 

ri,i  K  •  "°'^  ^^?"vT-  "^^  ^y  ^^^  tJ^e  Holy  Catholic 
Church  is  an  mvisible  company  of  true  believers,  in  aU 
churches  throughout  the  world,  irrespective  of  their 
modes  of  orgamzation  and  worship,  and  that  member- 
dup  therem  is  constituted  by  a  mere  subjective  act  of 
faith,  is  bke  saying  that  aU  men  are  Freemasons  if  they 
are  charitable,  since  charity  is  one  of  the  objects  of  that 

Sll°f  S^°°^  IPf  "°*  °^^^  ^o  ^  ^tiated  or  to 
conform  to  the  laws  of  the  Freemasons,  but  merely  to  be 

W,^rTr?T,  ^'^  i'^«'-™ai°  object,  in  order  to  consider 
hunself  a  f uU  member.  God,  who  does  aU  His  mighty 
works  by  order  and  system,  would  not  be  likely  to  leave 
to  unorganized  chancework^the  great  labor  of  sanctify- 

152 


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THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

ing  mankind  and  bringing  about  the  reign  of  perfect 
Sty  on  the  earth.    The  basis  of  orgamzation  is  what 
r  iiight  have  expected  H  priori  from  our  hypothesis. 
BapS  which  fethe  rite  of  initiation  onncorporation 
S  the  Church,  is  a  uniting  function.    By  1  a  nmn 
Cmes  buried  in  Christ.    The  Personabty  °f  Chm 
becomes  mingled  with  his.    He  is  m  Chnst,  and  Christ 
S     Aulho  have  been  baptized  have  thus  a  sprr- 
UuTgenn-principle  implanted  i°  them,  the  worlang  of 
which  will  tend  to  fill  them  with  the  same  mind    he 
Sie  feeUngs,  namely,  the  mind  and  feebngs  ofthe 
Christ,-a  personality  which  is  common  to  them  all. 
tS  groSth  into  unity  with  Christ  may  be  decked 
by  the  rdusal  of  the  baptized  person  to  yield  to  the  voice 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.    Hence  we  see  so  many  cases  where 
no  good  effects  of  baptism  are  evident.     This  does  no 
Sprove  the  unifying  tendency  of  baptism,  but  only  diat 
the  tendency  is  checked  by  the  perversenessSf  the  indi- 
vidual, which  may,  let  us  hope,  be  overcome  in  tie  inte^ 
mediate  state;  for  very  few,  if  any,  leave  this  earth  fitted 
for  a  Heavenly  inheritance.    St.  Paul  says.   Jot  ^ 
many  of  you  as  have  been  baptized  into  Chnst  have  put 
on  Christ.    There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek;  there  « 
neither  bond  nor  free,  there  is  neither  ma  e  nor  female, 
for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus."-Gal.  III.  27,  28. 
Most  people  do  not  take  the^  T^^^f  f  l^^^^tone 
terpret  them  to  mean  that  in  the  Pl^^  ^^  f  ;;f^^S 
of  Lse  distinctions  will  be  made,  and  that  fU  are  equ^ 
in  the  sight  of  God.    But  if  this  were  all  that  St.  faui 
StSdeS  convey,  why  should  he  i^e  such  sttong  and 
positive  language  to  affirm  so  simple  a  fact ;  or  why  should 


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THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION 

he  affirm  this  as  a  mystical  effect  of  baptism  ?    On  the 
other  hand  if  these  words  be  taken  hterally,  they  will  be 
found  to  be  sound  philosophically  and  possible  scien- 
tifically.   Further,  we  will  find  that  since  the  time  of 
St.  Paul  great  strides  have  been  taken  in  the  direction 
of  their  hteral  fulfilment,  and  that  there  is  a  noticeable 
tendency  thereto  everywhere  around  us  in  the  present 
day.    The  philosophical  basis  of  the  theory  consists  in 
the  substitution  of  Christ's  personality  for  ours.    The 
relation  of  my  personality  to  God's  is  one  that  cannot 
be  understood.    I  feel  sure  that  I  exist  as  a  person 
distinct  from  my  Creator,  and  that  I  am  free  to  govern 
myself.    Because  I  think,  therefore  I  believe  that  I  have 
a  soul  which  thinks.    Because  I  choose  between  objects 
therefore  I  believe  that  I  have  a  will  which  chooses! 
Because  I  have  feelings  and  thoughts,  which  I  can  re- 
member, I  believe  that  there  is  an  ego  that  is  distinct 
from  these  feelings  and  thoughts,  and  that  recognizes 
them  as  its  own.    Yet  I  cannot  logically  prove  that  I 
have  a  soul  that  thinks,  a  will  that  chooses,  an  ego 
that   feels.     These   are  assumptions  I  cannot  avoid 
making,  and  doubtless  there  is  reality  at   the  back 
of  theni;  yet  my  thoughts  may  be  influenced  and  sug- 
gested  by  God,  my  will  may  be  considerably,  if  not  alto- 
gether, determined  by  His,  and  my  feelings  of  pleasure 
or  pain  may  be  directly  caused  by  Him.    In  any  act  of 
thought  I  cannot  tell  how  much  of  God's  personality 
there  is  and  how  much  of  my  own.   In  any  act  of  will  I 
cannot  tell  how  far  I  am  free,  or  how  far  I  am  governed 
by  God.    I  can  understand  the  origin  of  a  thought  sug- 
gested by  the  sight  of  an  external  object,  but  of  thoughts 

154 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


that  arise  internally  I  cannot  always  tell  which  are  my 
own  and  which  are  God's,  or  the  Devil's.    It  is  quite 
conceivable  that,  since  the  Day  of  Pentecost,  a  change 
has  taken  place  in  the  proportion  between  the  number 
of  Divinely  inspired   thoughts  and  those  of  human 
or  cerebral  origin,  and  in  their  relative  strength,  es- 
pecially in  the  case  of  individuals  destined  to  exercise 
such  an  influence  on  mankind  as  the  Apostles  and  their 
successors  have  done.   It  is  also  reasonable  to  assert  that 
the  proportion  of  Divinely  suggested  thoughts  has  been 
increasing,  and  that  it  will  mcrease  until  the  Christ-Per- 
sonality, in  each  member  of  the  Catholic  Church,  has 
driven  out  the  discordant  elements  of  the  individual 
personality  altogether,  and  God  will  be  all  m  all.    This 
is  the  mystical  union  of  Christ  and  His  Bride  the  Church. 
The  union  will  not  be  complete  till  all  the  members  of 
the  Catholic  Church  are  literally  one  in  spirit,  soul,  and, 
perhaps,  in  body  also.  This  teaching  is  corroborated  by 
actual  facts.  The  differences  between  races  and  individ- 
uals are  rapidly  being  annihilated.  Our  own  century  has 
seen  the  most  remote  parts  of  the  world  opened  to  easy 
communication,  and  a  free  interchange  of  manners  and 
customs  between  nations  as  unlike  as  the  English  and 
Japanese.    All  nations  are  becoming  acquainted,  and, 
though  the  reign  of  universal  amity  may  be  a  long  way 
off,  we  see  the  foundations  of  it  being  surely  laid  through 
the  spread  of  the  Christian  civilizing  spirit.    The  first 
part  of  St.  Paul's  statement  has  been  almost  carried  out; 
and  already  we  might  say  that,  comparatively  speaking, 
throughout  the  world  there  is  no  longer  bondage,  and 
that  what  little  slavery  there  is  left  is  rapidly  being 


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THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

stamped  out  by  the  power  of  Christian  nations.    The 
high  are  being  surely  lowered,  and  the  lower  classes 
raised.    The  weak  are  conquering  the  strong,  and  the 
Kingdom  of  Meekness  is  being  everywhere  established 
and,  no  matter  how  often  set  back,  it  must  in  time  be 
triumphant  over  all  that  keeps  nation  from  nation,  and 
man  from  man.    There  must  be  in  time  one  language 
and  one  religion.    Communism,  which  in  the  present 
state  of  society  is    impracticable,  will    be  universal 
when  the  Catholic  Church  has  completely  embraced 
the  world  extensively  and  intensively.    All  men  will  be 
filled  with  only  one  mind  and  one  Spirit,  the  mind  and 
spint  of  Jesus  Christ;  and,  just  as  my  mind  governs 
the  miUions  of  living  corpuscles  that  I  call,  collectively 
my  body,  so  wiU  the  mind  of  Christ  actuate  and  move 
all  the  members  of  His  Bodv,  the  Catholic  or  universal 
Church. 

This  process  of  unification  is  continued  not  only  by 
the  uniting  germ  of  Spirit'life  implanted  in  baptism 
but  also  by  the  Sacrament  of  the  One  Body  and  Blood, 
which  IS  the  central  and  essential  feature  of  the  worship 
of  the  CathoHc  Church.    Not  only  shaU  there  be  one 
bpint  actuating  the  members  of  the  CathoHc  Church 
and  ^adually  making  them  think,  speak,  and  feel  alike,' 
but  there  shall  also  be  imparted,  through  the  material 
elements  of  bread  and  wine,  one  body  and  one  blood. 
As  a  umting  function,  tending  to  bring  about  absolute 
umty  on  this  planet,  the  Sacrament  of  Holy  Commun- 
ion  far  transcends  all  other  agencies  used  by  God  for 
the  same  purpose,  illustrates  them  aU,  and  completely 
reveals  God's  purpose;  and  at  the  same  time  furnishes 

156 


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THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


Mil 


the  means  to  bring  it  to  pass.     The   Spirit  of  God 
seems  to  be  working  powerfully  as  a  leveller  and  as- 
similator    in    the   Methodist  and   Presbyterian   and 
other  sectarian  bodies;  but  this  also  rather  confirms 
our  argument;  for  these  bodies,  having  come  out  from 
the  Catholic  Church,  and  most  of  them  maintaining  the 
sacraments  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  probably 
have  retained,  and  transmit  by  personal  contact,  much 
of  the  Apostolic  grace.    The  mysterious  unifying  and 
vitalizing  power  that  descends  through  the  Catholic 
Church  has  spread  itself  beyond  her  limits  like  a  halo. 
Nearly  all  who  call  themselves  Christians  must  fre- 
quently have  touched  persons  who  possessed  the  new 
life-principle.    As  a  matter  of  fact  many  of  the  Moham- 
medans and  Buddhists,  who  have  come  in  contact  with 
Europeans,  may  have  received  the  new  affinity;  and 
ninety-nine  out  of  every  hundred  sectarians  would 
probably  have  it,  but  only  those  branches  of  the  Catholic 
Church  that  have  maintained  the  Historic  Episcopate 
can  be  sure  that  they  have  it,  since  they  alone  have  pre- 
served the  mechanism  that  Our  Lord  designed  to  re- 
tain and  dispense  it.  The  others  may  have  Apostolic  suc- 
cession, but  certainly  have  no  way  of  being  sure  of  it, 
and  no  proper  system  to  guarantee  its  descent,  unim- 
paired, to  their  successors.  Many  of  them  are  beginning 
to  realize  this,  and  it  appears  only  a  question  of  time 
when  all  will  accept  unity  in  the  Catholic  Church. 

To  amplify  St.  Paul's  illustration,  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church  is  like  a  building— we  might  say  a  large  Cathe- 
dral —  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Apostles  and 
prophets,  Jesus  Christ  Himself  being  the  chief  corner 


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THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

stone  into  which  the  whole  building  is  framed,  all  the 
pillars  of  the  crypt  leading  up  to  or  supporting  the  great 
unifying  stone,  and  all  the  foundation  and  structure 
above  ground  resting  upon  it.  The  Crypt  is  the  Old 
Testament  substructure.  Abraham,  Moses,  David  and 
the  Prophets  are  some  of  the  largest  pillars  that  lead  up 
to  and  support  the  foundation  stone;  and  St.  Peter,  St. 
James,  St.  John,  and  St.  Paul  are  some  of  the  largest 
stones  in  the  foundation  above  ground.  The  nave  is  the 
Roman  Church,  and  the  Greek  and  AngHcan  Com- 
munions are  the  transepts.  As  we  look  closely  at  the 
walls,  we  observe  that  the  stones  are  ahve.  Not  far 
above  the  foundation  we  recognize  Clement  and  Origen, 
Ignatius  and  Polycarp;  while  higher  up  the  wall,  we 
recognize Tertullian,  and  the  great  Augustine; and  a  host 
of  saints.  Bishops,  Priests,  Deacons,  and  laymen.  The 
building  proceeds  from  the  bottom  upward,  and  the 
roof  is  not  yet  on.  It  will  not  be  completed  until  Christ 
shall  come  to  be  the  keystone  of  the  topmost  arch;  even 
as,  in  His  first  coming.  He  was  the  headstone  of  the 
comer.  The  stones  are  not  equally  large,  or  strong,  or 
handsome.  Some  are  even  ugly  and  rotten.  The 
Building  in  its  entirety  is  beautiful;  yet  the  materials  of 
which  it  is  composed  are  both  good  and  bad.  Some 
there  are  who  insist  that  the  Holy  Catholic  Church 
comprises  only  those  whose  hearts  are  united  truly  in 
Christ,  and  thus  attain  a  certain  standard  of  Hohness. 
If  they  are  sufl5ciently  holy,  they  are  supposed  to  be 
members  of  the  CathoUc  or  Universal  Church,  even  if 
they  have  never  been  baptized  or  communicated.  The 
true  view  is  that  all  who  have  been  baptized,  whether 


158 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

.ood  or  bad,  are  built  into  this  cathedral.  Some  are 
Stk  and  not  only  corrupt  themselves  but  are  apt  to 
Tefile  those  around  them;  yet  none  of  these  is  sufficient 
1  pndaneer  the  safety  of  the  building,  or  to  mar  its 
hPauttL^^^^  Around  the  nave  and  transepts  are 

SaX^els,  many  of  them  being  of  odd  and  whim^ 
sical  design.  These  are  the  Chnstian  sects.  They  are 
Tre  or  iSs  closely  connected  with  the  unifying  comer 
^one  and,  when  the  roof  is  on  it  will  cover  them  all. 


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CHAPTER  X. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION  AS  EXPLANATORY  OF 
THE  COMMUNION  OF  SAINTS  AND  THE  REMISSION  OF 
SINS  BY  THE  UNIVERSAL  INTEGRATOR. 

In  the  old  covenant,  sins  were  remitted  by  the  sacrifice 
of  the  blood  of  animals.  In  the  new  covenant,  they  are 
remitted  by  the  sacrifice  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  the 
Lamb  of  God,  which  do  now  take  away  the  sins  of- the 
world,  and  must  continue  to  be  offered  up  in  His 
Church  for  the  remission  of  sins,  until  He  shall  come 
again. 

In  each  case  the  visible  act  of  offering  the  sacrifice 
effect  Its  purpose  in  two  ways:  Subjectively,  by  in- 
tensifying the  faith  of  the  recipient,  and  working  on  his 
feebngs  so  as  to  induce  him  to  Hve  a  better  life- 
objectively,  by  instiUing  into  him  a  new  influence,  which 
works  upon  the  substance  of  his  being  and  develops  the 
Divimty  within  him. 

Let  us  notice  now,  particularly,  the  details  in  the 
ottenng  of  sacrifice  under  both  covenants: 

(i)  Under  the  old  covenant,  no  one  must  presume  to 
offer  sacnfices  except  the  members  of  a  chosen  priest- 
hood. The  Lord  said  unto  Aaron:  Therefore  thou 
and  thy  sons  with  thee  shall  keep  your  priest's  office  for 
everything  of  the  altar,  and  within  the  veil;  and  ye  shaU 
serve:  I  have  given  your  priest's  office  unto  you  as  a 
service  of  gift:  and  the  stranger  that  cometh  nigh  shall 

i6o 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

u  .,ttn  Heath"  Numbers  xvra: 7.  We  know  bow 
KoS,  D^Sn.  and  Abiram  suffered  in  attempting  to 

''7tn!^^n^^.  none  can  offer  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Bodv  and  Blood  of  Christ  but  a  priest  duly  ordained 
fo  the  office  by  the  Aposdes  or  their  successors.    Even 

'  trTheT-ltSering  the  sacrifice  under  the  old 
covenant  must  wear  the  kind  of  vestments  God  wished 
SmTw  ar,  and  no  other.  It  was  not  a  matter  oHn^ 
difference,  a  non-essential,  a  question  of  taste.  And 
E  S  make  holy  garments  for  Aaron  thy  brother, 
Slfry  a^dtr  beLV"  "And  tb.y  ^^^^  ^ake  goW 
and  blue,  and  purple  and  scarlet  and  fine  linen.      Ex 

"tnS'  ^^w  co;;nant,  the  Church  ^apted  these 
colors  and  these  vestments,  and  used  thein  on  her 

Scing  priesthood  for  ovf^^.'^^nloJ  a  ^l^S 
undiscerning  reformers  abolished  them  for  a  piam 

"^5  S'Si'oid  covenant,  the  structure  and  materials 
ofX  talmacle  and  its Jurmshings  were  ^nu^dy 
described  by  God  after  a  Heavenly  pattern,    ^lot^^g 

wasKo  ^dividual  taste  and  i-^^^-}:J^Z7^ 
did  not  think  he  had  a  right  to  worship  God  mt^  way 

he  pleased;  and  that  every  other  "^^'^  th^^^^^Ses 
differently  was  ignorant,  or  worse.  God  ^je  to  M^es 
the  best  way  "  for  glory  and  for  beauty  .  °^oddled  after 
the  worship  of  God  as  it  is  carried  on  m  Heaven. 

The  division  into  the  court  of  the  people  &e  Hdy 
Place  and  the  Holy  of  HoUes;  the  form  and  materials 

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THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant;  the  incense;  the  candlesticks- 
the  laver,  and  the  shewbread,  aU  these  were  described 
m  detail  as  God  wished  them  to  be  made  and 
used. 

In  the  new  covenant,  the  church  foUowed  the  taber- 
nacle divisions  in  the  nave,  choir,  and  sanctuary.  The 
altar,  mcense,  candlesticks,  laver,  and  shewbread  were 
gradually  adapted  as  the  Holy  Ghost  guided  the  Church 
into  all  the  truth  of  the  relation  between  the  covenants 
Ihe  only  changes  were  those  rendered  necessary  by 
the  substitution  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Body  and  Blood 

-ft       ^°^  ^^  ^^°^^  ^"'^  ^^°^  °f  '^"^  *°d  goats. 
These  things  are  no  more  matters  of  taste  than  the 

acceptance  of  the  Bible,  as  a  revelation  from  God.  is  a 
matter  of  taste. 

Imagine,  if  you  can,  a  section  of  people,  under  the  old 
covenant,  nsmg  up  in  rebeUion  and  saying  that  they 
objected  to  the  shape  of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  or 
to  the  color  of  the  priest's  vestments,  or  to  the  candle- 
^^?ri  "^,,      Tabernacle,  or  to  the  use  of  incense! 

But,  some  may  say,  "Were  not  aU  these  things 
done  away  with,  when  the  veil  of  the  Temple  was  rent 
m  twam?  Certainly  not.  Christ  said  that  He  had 
not  come  to  destroy  the  Law,  i.  e.,  the  Jewish  system,  but 
to  fuM  It.  These  were  not  destroyed.  They  were 
fumUed  and  developed,  absorbed  and  adapted.  The 
old  passed  away  by  being  taken  up  into  the  new. 

The  same  pattern  which  God  gave  to  Moses  was,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  foUowed  m  the  main  by  the  new  cove- 
nant, because  it  is  a  pattern  of  things  as  they  are.  Eternal 
in  the  Heavens.    Are  we  to  suppose  that  the  pattern 

162 


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THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION, 
was  changed  in  Heaven  because  certain    theologians 

"(I?  Un£^S:J  wafer  bread  was  one  formof  sacrifice 
X  the  old  covenant.  In  Exodus  xxix:  2.  we 
S'  "And  unleavened  bread,  and  cakes  unleavened 
^mpered  with  oQ,  and  wafers  unleavened  annointed 
vvith  oU  of  wheaten  flour  shalt  thou  make  them. 
"SnlerL  newcovenant,  unleavened  bread  was  tato 

by  our  Lord  in  instituting  the  sacrifice  of  His  Body  and 
S<^;  and  it  was  used  for  over  one  thousand  years,  unU 
fhrreformers,  in  defiance  of  Scripture  and  ecclesiastical 
authority,  declared  that  bread  contaimng  leaven,  or 
Jelsrwhich  is  the    principle   of  fermentation  and 

ToS;tv:Sd"bread  may  be  good  enough  for  com^ 
mon  use   but  surely  the  finest  kind  of  bread   and 
frS^^t  from  fermenthig  germs,  the  very  cleanest  and 
Durest  should  be  used  for  consecration  into  the  Body 
S?  our  Lord.    St.  Paul  says:    "Jhe  bread  which  we 
teak  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  bodyof  CW 
For  we,  being  many  are  one  bread  and  one  ^y  f  or  we 
are  all  oartakersof  that  one  bread."  I.  Cor.  x.  lO  ana  17. 
(0  Under  both  covenants,  there  could  be  no  remission 
of^siis  SoS  the  shedding  of  blood.    St.  Paul  ^ys: 
"And  almost  all  things  are  by  the  law  purged  with  bgod, 
and  without  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission.      Heb . 

'''in  ^e  new  covenant,  we  have  the  'taming  of  our  Lord 

Himself:  "Verily,  verily,  I  ^^y  ^°!° 7°^' S^' fhave 
the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man  and  dnnk  his  blood,  ye  have 

no  life  in  you."  John  vi.  53. 

163 


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I 


J 

"I 


I 


?! 


/  ! 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

The  transfusion  of^lood  has  been  practised  for  cen- 
turies amongst  Oriental  nations  as  a  visible  bond  of 
unity.  When  two  men  vowed  eternal  friendship,  each 
opened  a  vein  and  inserted  some  of  the  other's  blood 
m  token  that  henceforth  they  were  one. 

If  eating  the  bread,  as  St.  Paul  describes  it,  makes  us 
one  body,  drinking  the  blood  of  Christ  must  also  make 
us  of  one  body.  "  For  the  life  of  the  flesh  is  in  the  blood  • 
and  I  have  given  it  to  you  upon  the  Altar  to  make  an 
atonement  for  your  souls;  for  it  is  the  blood  that  maketh 
an  atonement  for  the  soul."    Lev.  xvn:  ii. 

(6)  In  both  covenants,  the  blood  was  mixed  with 
water.  In  Heb.  ix:  19,  we  read:  "He  took  the  blood 
of  calves  and  of  goats,  with  water." 

Our  Lord  on  the  cross  shed  out  of  His  side  both  blood 
and  water. 

"This  is  he  that  came  by  water  and  blood,  even  Jesus 
Chnst,  not  by  water  only,  but  by  water  and  blood." 
I  John  v:  6. 

The  Christian  Church  has,  consequently,  foUowed 
the  practice  of  mixing  water  and  wine  on  the 
altar. 

(7)  In  both  covenants  the  sacrifice  was  accompanied 
by  a  service  and  the  reading  of  Scripture.  "For  when 
Moses  had  spoken  every  precept  to  aU  the  people,  ac- 
cordmg  to  the  Law,  he  took  the  blood  of  calves  and 
of  goats."     Heb.  IX  .-19. 

In  the  Liturgies  of  the  new  covenant  we  have  prayers 
and  the  reading  of  the  Old  Testament  Commandments 
and  the  Epistles  and  Gospels. 

(8)  In  both  covenants,  the  priest  was  required  to 

164 


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ll 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

make  a  strong,  clear  statement  to  the'people  that^this 
was  the  blood  of  a  covenant.        ,^ 
fcWe  read  in  Heb.  ix:  20,  that  when  Moses  had  pre- 
nared  the  sacrifice  he  was  required  to  say :     Thiy  s  the 
blood  of  the  testament  which  God  hath  enjomed  unto 

^°The  priest  in  the  Christian  Church  must  use  the 
strong  language  of  institution,  saying:  "This  is  my  blood 
of  the  new  testament  which  is  shed  for  you,  and  for  many, 
for  the  remission  of  sins." 

Again, when  he  holds  up  the  chalice,  he  must  say: 
"The  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  shed 
for  thee,  preserve  thy  body  and  soul  unto  everlastmg  Me. 

(q)  In  both  covenants,  the  priest  was  compeUed  to 
lay  his  hands  upon  the  material  elements  of  the  sacri- 
fice Whatever  mysterious  spiritual  force  might  have 
come  to  each  priest  by  the  laying  on  of  his  ordamer  s 
hands,  he  was  supposed  to  transmit  to  the  elements. 
What  this  unseen  principle  is  we  cannot,  of  course,  teU. 
It  may  be  a  change  in  the  affinities  of  atoms,  or  the 
whirUng  of  molecules,  or  a  power  akin  to  what  we  know 
as  animal  magnetism;  or  it  may  be  something  entire  y 
beyond  our  conception;  but  what  we  do  know  positively 
is  that,  whatever  it  was  and  is,  the  priest  was  bound  to 
convey  it  by  actuaUy  touching  the  sacrifice  with  his 
hands,  and  that  this  was  the  same  in  both  covenants. 

In  Exod.  XXDC:  15,  we  read:  "And  Aaron  and  his 
sons  shall  put  their  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  ram ;  and 
in  the  tenth  verse:  "And  Aaron  and  his  sons  shall  put 
their  hands  upon  the  head  of  the  bullock."  Agam  in 
the  twenty-fourth  verse,  speaking  of  the  loaf  of  bread 

i6S 


H 


\ 


Mi 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

Md  one  wafer  out  of  the  basket  of  unleavened  bread 
that  was  before  the  Lord:  "And  thou  shalt  put  all  in 
the  hands  of  Aaron  and  in  the  hands  of  his  sons,  and 
Shalt  wave  them  for  a  wave  offering  before  the  Lord  " 
Therefore  no  matter  whether  it  was  a  buUock  or  ram 
whose  blood  was  to  be  offered,  or  a  wafer  of  unleavened 
bread,  Aaron  and  his  sons  must  lay  their  hands  on  it 

ix),  m  the  new  covenant  by  the  rubrics  in  the  conse- 
cration prayer,  the  priest  is  expressly  enjoined  to  do  the 
Kime.  He  is  told  to  lay  his  hand  upon  all  the  bread 
When  he  consecrates  the  wine,  he  is  to  take  the  cup 
into  his  hMid  and  he  is  to  lay  his  hand  upon  every  vessel 
in  which  there  is  any  wine  to  be  consecrated. 

Now  if  the  object  is  merely  to  caU  attention  to  the 
elements  consecrated,  why  must  he  actually  touch  aU 
the  bread  and  all  the  vessels  ?  His  lips  also  must  touch 
Uie  wme  before  it  is  given  to  the  people. 

(lo)  In  both  covenants,  the  blood  of  the  sacrifice  must 
come  into  physical  contact  with  the  persons  whose  sins 
were  to  be  remitted:  "For  when  Moses  had  spoken 
every  precept  to  all  the  people,  according  to  the  Law, 
he  took  the  blood  of  calves  and  goats  with  water,  and 
scarlet  wool  and  hyssop  and  sprinkled  both  the  bool 
and  all  the  people."-Heb.  ix:  19.  AU  the  people  must 
be  sprinkled. 

In  the  new  covenant,  the  contact  is  closer  still,  for 
they  do  venly  eat  and  drink  the  Body  and  Blood  and 
toke  the  same  mto  their  bodies,  so  that  Christ  thereby 
dwells  m  them  and  they  in  Him.  Therefore  we  see  that 
this  mysterious  unseen  spiritual  force  comes  to  the  priest 
by  succession  of  personal.  Apostolic,  laying-on  of  hands; 

166 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

.1.  ,it  k  transmitted  to  the  elements  of  brea.d  and  wine, 
'^  Ik  tKSJn  of  his  hands;  and  that,  with  the 
SiStioSd  aSiUtion,  it  passes  mto  the  Wood 
f  the  reSent,  and  from  his  blood,  which  is  the  life  of 
Hs^eshTen  ers  the  substance  of  his  bemg,  thereby 
nrese^g  his  body  and  soul  unto  everlasting  hf e 

^l  nlant  to  STOW  bv  a  Dower  exercised  througli  tne  im 
the  plant  to  g™^  oy  ^^  chemical  affinity 

A  fi,o  r^innt     Without  moisturc  (jod  does  noi, 
Z^r^t  iff -ordTnlry  course  of  His  working,  make 

^^V^^mSre  is  to  the  plant,  faith  is  to  Ae  ^m- 
\  ^u^  faUVi  U  not  the  cause  of  the  emcacy  ot  tne 
Sko™ n  SS  lei  must  it  be  supposed  to  be 
r^riLlf.  The  unseen  g^-o-f--gf,; 
^S;^'m:l^S:;Xfft^^t-.  unless  it  have 

"tS'tllis  faith  is  a  beUef ;  -t  -  %  generaUy  o^^ 
reUgion,  or  in  the  Bible  but  a  ^he^that  he^^^co^ 
crated  elements  are  the  body  ana  oiuuvx 

167 


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111 
'■■■i 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

and  that  they  are  given  for  the  remission  of  the  sin,„f 
the  person  that  eats  and  drinks  of  them.  Sd  tL?!h 
™on  shall    come  from  the  visible  a<;t"?  '^li^^ 

said  tw^  "^"  ^'"'^''  '^''  ^'  '"P"es  that  our  Lord 

bodv^' and  -TV.'^'  •*"''  ^'^^^  "^  '^^■-  "This  is  mJ 
body  and:  This  is  my  blood."  Also  that  the  Dri«t 
says, what  is  not  true  when  he  says:  "The  Bodv  „ 
f""- Lord  Jesus  Christ,  which  was  riven  for  the2.nH 
he  Blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  wMchwi^  for 
thee,-presen-e  thy  body  and  soul  unto  evetsting 

dematiS'^not'/  '''"''''  ''"J^ '""^ase  their  own  con- 
demnation, not  discermng  our  Lord's  Body  and  Blood 
This  mystenous  cleansing  and  remitting  i^wercaS 
act  m  the  souls  of  such  persons;  but,  nfvStheless  S 
power  IS  there,  ready  to  act  the  mUemThlfhaSh 
just  as  the  power  is  ready  to  make  the  p£t  kJow  the 
moment  it  gets  moisture.  ^       ^      '  ^ 

One  may  still  be  in  doubt  and  say  that  we  cannm 
see  how  bread  and  wine  could  effect  our  consdence  ex 
cept  as  memorials  to  increase  our  faith;  but  ff  so  let 
us  ponder  these  things  deeply,  and  then  ask  thL  ques 
on  urged  by  St.  Paul.    Ask  it  over  and  over  agahi  undl 
hi    f  '/r^^-^-^e  takes  possession  of  us:  "lot  if  !h' 
blood  of  buUs  and  of  goats  and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer 
spnnkhng  the  unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the  puSykS  of 
the  flesh;  how  much  more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ 

sp"  t gS  '''  "^-^""^^ 'P'"^'  '^'^'^  HimseU^hout' 

re;;?Htii?i-rGr'/sr  i^zt::.  -'^ 

i68 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

Man  cannot  think,  unless  the  nerve  centres  of  his  brain 
a^replenished  by  material  atoms  of  food  through  the 
Hood  Does  not  meat  make  dogs  vicious?  And  oats 
Se'hoSes  Uvely  ?  Do  not  material  things  affect  our 
Soughts?  Whiskey,  opium,  chloral,  cocaii^andothe^ 
HruBs  powerfully  influence  the  mind.  Wiy  should 
SonEmted  bread  and  wine  be  made  by  the  Creator 
Se  Zns  whereby  He  can  telepath  us  m  an  especial 
way  for  our  good? 


m 


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Hi 


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169 


I  -r 

r 

Ji 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  PHILOSOPHY   OF    INTEGRATION    AS    EXPLANATORY 
OF  THE  FINAL  DESTINY  OF  MAN. 


i 


(i)  On  examining  the  parts  of  any  organized  body 
with  the  microscope,  we  find  that  what  appear  to  our 
naked  eyes  to  be  fibres  and  tubes  are  really  made  up  of 
minute  cells;  that  each  of  these  cells  contains  a  small 
spot  called  a  nucleus,  which  in  its  turn  contains  a  still 
smaller  corpuscle  called  the  nucleolus. 

(2)  We  observe  that,  in  order  to  propagate  itself,  a  cell 
needs  the  co-operation,  either  of  a  blastema  or  germ  sub- 
stance, or  of  another  cell.  There  must  be  a  union  of 
male  and  female  elements. 

(3)  We  can  give  no  rational  account  of  any  material 
cause  sufficient  to  start  motion  in  the  cell  from  a  chem- 
ical examination  of  its  protoplasmic  or  other  contents. 

(4)  We  are  obUged  to  fall  back  upon  the  idea  of  a 
Spiritual  power  imparting  life  and  motion  to  the  cells 
by  regulating  what  we  caU  their  chemical,  or  molecular, 
affinities.  In  other  words,  the  life  of  protoplasm  is  the 
life  of  God,  partly  inherent,  partiy  transmitted  from 
Heaven. 

Let  us  see  if  this  throws  any  light  upon  the  subject 
of  the  Resurrection  of  the  human  body. 

The  germ  theory  of  the  Resurrection  is  first  set 
forth  by  St.  Paul  in  the  Fifteenth  Chapter  of  his 
first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  He  says,  begin- 
ning at  verse  35:    '*But  some  man  will  say,  How 


170 


11 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

are  the  dead  raised  up  and  with  what  body  do  they 
come?  Thou  fool,  that  which  thou  sowest  is  not 
nSened,  except  it  die:  and  that  which  thou  sowest, 
rSe  t  not?hat  body  that  shall  be,  but  bare  gr^n 
imav  chance  of  wheat,  or  of  some  other  grain:  But 
Sveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  Him,  and  to  every 

seed  his  own  body." 
Of  a  erain  of  wheat  we  observe: 

(i)  It  is  a  Uving  germ  containing  its  nucleus  and 

'^S'lrcontains  its  female  ovule  and  its  male  pollen. 
(J\  When. placed  under  suitable  conditions  of  air, 
wannth,  and  moisture,  God  will  give  it  a  body. 

IS  Each  seed  is  given  a  body  distmcdy  its  own  by 
viffe  of  a  formula^f  assimilation  different  from  al 
Xrs.  It  may  absorb  the  same  elements  as  other 
S  and  perhaps,  the  same  as  other  individuals  of 
Twheat  kSd,  but  its  mode  of  appropriating  them 
o  its  use  s  pecuUarly  its  own.  Of  ten  miUions  of  stalks 
Sid  hS^^^^^         in  a  wheat  field,  accordingly,  no  two 

"^ThS^wi^fair  inferences  appear  to  us  to  be  im- 
plied  in  St.  Paul's  statement:  ^    ,    ,      .     ^^„ 

(1)  There  may  be  contained  in  the  body  of  a  man, 
destinedto  be  raised  up  at  the  last  day,  a  nucleus,  or  bfe 
germ  of  the  Resurrection-body. 

(2)  If  we  are  to  foUow  out  the  analog  of  aU  other 
vitffized  germs,  this  nucleus  or  Ufe  pnn  ^Hh^^^^^^^^ 
tion-body  will  require  a  co-operatmg  element  of  ^^^^ 
tema  or  germ  life,  to  fertiUze  it,  fructify  it,  and  keep  it 
alive. 


X71 


1 1 


Bi 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

(3)  Just  as  the  grain  of  wheat  lies  in  the  ground 
dormant  until  its  surroundings  are  exactly  suited  to  its 
growth,  so  must  the  germ  of  the  Resurrection-body  await 
the  great  Spring  time  of  the  last  day.  As  God  has  pro- 
vided for  different  kinds  of  seeds,  shells,  pods,  rinds,  and 
other  coverings  to  protect  the  germ  of  life  within,  so  we 
should  expect  Him  to  provide  suitable  protection  to 
the  germ  of  the  Resurrection-body,  to  keep  it  unto  that 
day.  We  know  that  no  particle  of  the  human  body  can 
cease  to  exist;  and  this  germ  might  be  so  adequately  pro- 
tected that  even  cremation  would  not  impair  its  vitaUty. 

(4)  As  God  gives  to  each  seed  a  body  distinct  from 
all  others  in  having  a  unique  formula  of  assimilation, 
so  He  gives  to  each  human  body  characteristics  pecu- 
Harly  its  own.    I  may  eat  the  same  food  as  my  neighbor, 
breathe  the  same  air  and  absorb  the  same  fluids,  and  yet 
we  assimilate  them  so  differently  that  his  body  is  tall, 
mine  short;  his  complexion  is  dark,  mine  light.    The 
same  elements  of  oxygen,  carbon,  and  what  not,  which  in 
his  case  produce  obesity  in  mine  produce  fragility.    It 
is  not  necessary  to  beheve  that  in  the  Resurrection  our 
glorified  bodies  will  be  composed  of  the  same  particles 
that  our  earthly  bodies  had;  but  only  that  there  wil 
survive  a  nucleus,  or  germ,  that  will  have  the   same 
formula  of  assimilation  that  the  old  body  had.    Much 
of  the  popular  doubt  on  the  subject  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion is  due  to  ignorance  on  this  point.    It  is,  of  course, 
a  physical  impossibility  that  the  same  particles  could 
be  used  because  they  may  have  been  absorbed  by  more 
than  one  himian  body  on  the  earth;  and  besides,  the 
bodv'which  a  man  has  in  his  eightieth  year,  for  exam- 


172 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

nle  has  been  entirely  changed  at  least  a  score  of  times, 
Snd  he  has  had  certainly  as  many  as  twenty  distmct 
Ses  since  he  was  a  child.  Yet,  smce  the  formula  of 
Similation  has  always  remained  the  same,  or  nearly  so, 
Sle  to  recognize  the  body  of  his  old  age  as  identical, 
ihiugh  so  often  renewed  in  its  actual  particles  mth 
tShich  he  had  in  his  youth.  The  body  that  I  shall 
hSre  in  the  Resurrection  wiU  be  the  same  body  that  I 
have  now,]USt  as  the  bodylhavenowis  the  same  Ihad 

%^^lc^pt  this  view,  the  question  at  once  suggests 
iKPlf  •  Is  this  germ,  or  nucleus  of  the  Resurrection-body, 
!n  eveS  St  his  birth,  or  is  it  a  special  gift  imparted 
to  him  at  some  time  afterwards? 
£S  rubric  at  the  begimmg  of  the  Bunal  pervice  says : 
"Here  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  office  ensmng  is  not  to 
be  used  for  any  that  die  unbaptized  or  excommumcate, 
or  have  laid  violent  hands  upon  themselves. 
The  AngUcan  committal  service  r^s  as  J fc 

"Forasmuch  as  it  hath  pleased  ,Almig^*y,  ^f '^."L^r 
great  mercy  to  take  mito  HimseU  the  soul  of  our  dear 
Kher  here  departed,  we  therefore  commit  his  body 
to  the  ground;  krth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust  to 
iJt  if  sure  knd  certain  hope  of  the  resurrection  to 
ei  Ufe,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Chr^t;  w^skd 
change  our  vile  body,  that  it  may  be  hke  unto  fts  gto 
riousW  according  to  the  mig^y  worlmig,  whereby 
he  is  able  to  subdue  aU  things'to  HimseU. 

The  refusal  to  allow  these  words  to  be  saad  over  Ae 
body  of  one  dying  unbaptized  certaaxJy  impbes,  that 
the  Church  holds  out  no  "sure  and  certam  hope    of  a 

173' 


i' 


11 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

resurrection  "through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  in  the 
case  of  one  that  has  not  received  baptism.  If  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  nucleus  or  Ufe  germ  of  the  Resurrection- 
body,  therefore,  we  are,  apparently,  not  bom  with  it,  but 
it  must  be  imparted  to  us  after  birth;  and  one  way  of  re- 
ceiving it  is  through  baptism. 

If  we  examine  our  Lord's  conversation  with  Nico- 
demus,we  will  find  that  it  strongly  corroborates  this 
view.  In  the  third  chapter  of  St.  John's  Gospel  we  read 
in  the  fifth  verse:  Jesus  answered  "Verily,  verily,  I  say 
unto  thee,  Except  a  man  be  bom  of  water  and  the  Spirit, 
he  cannot  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God". 

The  phrase  "Kingdom  of  God"  cannot  here  be  con- 
sidered to  refer  only  to  the  elect  on  the  earth;  but  is 
manifestly  a  reference  also  to  the  abode  of  the  blessed 
dead  after  the  Judgment.  Therefore  we  may  fairly  take 
this  utterance  as  involving  these  truths: 

(i)  Knowing  that  water  is  composed  of  living  organ- 
isms that,  in  their  ultimate  structure  are  cellular  and 
germinal,  and  that  its  minute  atoms  depend  for  their 
energy  upon  a  spiritual  force,  we  infer  that  the  "Water 
and  the  Spirit"  together  impart  to  the  tissues  of  the 
person  baptized  a  new  vitality  and,  perhaps,  new  affini- 
ties throughout. 

(2)  This  imparted  Ufe-principle  is  spoken  of  as  a 
"new  birth". 

The  unbaptized  body  has  been  developed  from  its 
mother's  womb  to  the  time  of  baptism  by  absorbing,  ac- 
cording to  its  own  formula  of  assimilation,  the  elements 
that  surround  it.  Now  there  is  bom  in  it  a  new  power 
of  assimilation.  There  is  implanted  the  germ  of  a  new 
body. 

174 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

(3)  Unless  a  man  have  received  into  his  body  this 
germ  of  the  new  life,  he  shall  not  be  allowed  to  enter  the 

Resurrected  Kingdom.  ,  ^     .,.      .      ... 

If  the  analogy  of  all  other  seed  fertihzation  is  to  be 
carried  out  in  the  case  of  this  germ  of  the  Resurrection- 
body,  implanted  by  baptism,  we  should  expect  provision 
in  the  plan  of  salvation  for  supplying  the  co-operatmg 
germ  force  of  the  opposite  sex  necessary  to  fertilize  the 
baptismal  germ  and  preserve  its  vitaUty  by  continuous 
nourishing  application.    This  we  find  in  the  Sacrament 
of  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.    That  the  Church 
regards    the    consecrated   elements    as    having    some 
mysterious  power  to  nourish  or  fertilize  the  nucleus  of  a 
Resurrection-body  is  a  fair  inference  from  the  words  used 
by  the  Priest  in  administering  it:    "The  Body  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  preserve  thy  body  and  soul  unto  ever- 
lasting life."  ,       ,  . 
St.  Augustine  was  of  opinion  that  the  grace  conveyed 
by  the  consecrated  bread  and  wine  was   the    same 
as  that  given  through  the  material  elements  of  the 
baptismal  water;  and  this  was  the  opinion  of  the  Church 
until  the  rise  of  the  theory  of  transubstantiation  in  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries.    Luther  held  the  same  view 
as  St.  Augustine.  Antecedently  we  should  expect  that  the 
mysterious  influence  conveyed  by  the  two  sacraments 
would  be  correlative,  each  necessary  to  the  perfect 
fructification  of  the  other.    If  the  grace  conveyed  by 
each  had  been  precisely  the  same  as  that  conveyed  by  the 
other,  there  would  not  be  any  need  for  two.    Either  one 
would  have  been  enough. 
We  must  take  our  stand  on  ''Hoc  est  meum  corpus  . 


I7S 


'I 


\v  ' 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

Luther  chalked  these  words  on  the  table  during  his 
conference  with  Zwingle,  because  he  was  too  profound 
a  mystic  not  to  perceive  therein  the  atomic  identification 
of  Christ  and  the  believer;  and  too  logical  not  to  see  that 
this  is  the  only  straightforward  interpretation  we  can 
put  upon  the  words  of  institution  and  the  Sixth  Chapter 
of  St.  John's  Gospel.    When  our  Lord  said  to  his 
followers,  "This  is  my  body,"  He  could  not  have  meant 
that  the  bread  He  held  in  His    hands  was  a  part 
of  the  body,  which,  they  could  plainly  see,  was  complete 
without  it.    This  apparent  contradiction  has  always 
appeared  one  of  the  most  difficult  features  in  the  great 
mystery.    The  germ  theory,  however,  throws  consider- 
able hght  upon  it,  and  makes  Luther's  beUef,  i.  e.,  that 
of   consubstantiation,   highly   inteUigible.    Our  Lord 
was  not  speaking  to  scientists  when  He  instituted  the 
sacrament.    Consequently  He  did  not  give  a  scientific 
explanation  of  it,  but  merely  stated  the  fact  in  positive, 
unambiguous,  and  terse  language.    According  to  this 
theory,  had  He  wished  to  do  so.  He  might  probably  have 
explained  His  meaning  thus:    "This  body  is  not  com- 
posed of  the  same  particles  as  the  body  that  I  had  a 
few  years  ago,  and  yet  it  is  called  the  same  body.    My 
real  body,  for  its  identity,  does  not  depend  upon  the 
particular  atoms  of  flesh  composing  it  at  any  one  time, 
but  rather  on  a  pecuhar  affinity  of  those  atoms  for 
other  atoms  outside  of  myself.    The  flesh  profiteth 
nothing.    It  is  the  Spirit  that  quickeneth.    That  which 
really  constitutes  my  body  is  the  peculiar  formula  of 
assimilation  that,  under  Spiritual  guidance,  the  atoms 
of  my  body  have,  and  have  differently  from  those  of 

176 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

fi,pr  man's  body.  This  bread  that  I  have  just 
tf  ?AasTcdved7  ^^^^  the  touch  of  my  hand  m 
blessed  has  '^^^^^^^^^  ^^^ence  upon  its  atoms 

^£Xkr\SiS.re  changed,  and  they  posse^  the 
fn^^^^^  of  assimilation  that  the  atoms  of  my  f  amil- 

formula  of  assimilation   that  ^J  °^y  ^      Not  that 
other  words,  I  will  be  ^^>^"\^^^Thrar^SiU  atoms  of 

the  atoms  are  no  l^^!*;^  belor  its  coScration,  in 
bread;but,whereastherewas,  Deiore  I 

it  only  the  substance  of  bi^adi^w  to  a^      ^^^ 
substances,  that  of  bread  and  that  ol  my        y 
Spiritual  power,  of ^^^g  ^e  a^   a^^J 

.^^^^>^^r^z:.T:^^r^'^  rt?e 

ment   and   the   Kesurrection,  "  -2 

QWfVi  ChaDter   of   St.   John's   Gospel,  verseb  51,   d 

am  the  Uving  bread  which  came  down  ir 
if  any  man  eat  of  this  bread,  he  s^U  ^^^^^"^^^  ^^, 
the  bread  that  I  will  give  is  ^J  A^f^^^^^f ore  stLe 
for  .the  life  of  the  world.      The  J^s^  ^^ 

among  themselves,  saying,    Howcantmsma    g 

177 


ii 


III 
i  I 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


i'  I 


his  flesh  to  eat  ?"  Then  Jesus  said  unto  them:  "Verily, 
verily,  I  say  imto  you,  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son 
of  man,  and  drink  His  blood,  ye  have  no  Hfe  in  you. 
Whoso  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  my  blood,  hath 
eternal  life;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day.'* 

This  germ  theory  is  strongly  corroborated  by  the 
stringent  regulations  which  God  imposed  upon  the  Jews 
regarding  leaven. 

Every  thoughtful  clergyman  who  stands  up  at  his 
lectern  to  read  the  Twelfth  Chapter  of  Exodus,  on 
Easter  Morning,  must  conclude  that  there  is  an  impor- 
tant connection  between  the  subject  of  leaven  and  that  of 
the  Resurrection.  Beginning  with  the  15th  verse  we  read: 

"Seven  days  shall  ye  eat  unleavened  bread;  even  the 
first  day  ye  shall  put  away  leaven  out  of  your  houses: 
for  whosoever  eateth  leavened  bread  from  the  first  day 
until  the  seventh  day,  that  soul  shall  be  cut  off  from 
Israel.  And  in  the  first  day  there  shall  be  an  holy  con- 
vocation, and  in  the  seventh  day  there  shall  be  an  holy 
convocation  to  you;  no  manner  of  work  shall  be  done  in 
them,  save  that  which  every  man  must  eat,  that  only 
may  be  done  of  you.  And  ye  shall  observe  the  feast  of 
unleavened  bread ;  for  in  this  self-same  day  have  I  brought 
your  armies  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt:  therefore  shall  ye 
observe  this  day  in  your  generations  by  an  ordinance 
for  ever.  In  the  first  month,  on  the  fourteenth  day  of 
the  month  at  even,  ye  shall  eat  unleavened  bread,  imtil 
the  one  and  twentieth  day  of  the  month  at  even.  Seven 
days  shall  there  be  no  leaven  found  in  your  houses;  for 
whosoever  eateth  that  which  is  leavened,  even  that  soul 
shall  be  cut  off  from  the  congregation  of  Israel,  whether 


178 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

h.  he  a  stranger,  or  bom  in  the  land.  Ye  shall  eat 
tt^ngCSm  all  your  habitations  shall  ye  eat  un- 

'XloSStg  points  in  connection  with  the  above 
auotation  ^ndicfte  that  God  considered  the  absence  of 
SSTi^t  of  vital  importance  in  the  economy  of  His 

^^'x^^^^^^^^  commandmg,  tone  of  the  language 

""' (2)  The  quotation  begins  and  ends  with  an  express 
iniunction,  positive,  and  unambiguous. 

TTThe  reiteration  indicates  an  emphatic  intention. 
(J)  The  prohibitory  injunction  is  to  include  strangers 

wiih  the  Jews  lest  any  spores   of  leaven  should  be 

'rSf:^^^^^^?^^^^  the  prohibition  extends 
toS  tShlbitations,  lest  those  depart^ag  t^  distant 
Dlace  might  consider  themselves  at  Uberty  to  use  it, 
Tnd  u^wfttingly  bring  it  back  with  them  m  their  cloth- 

^^Notl^^^^^^^^^  bread  forbidden,but  any 

ho£ls  s'o^hlt  "ot  a  single  particle  of  the  for^^^^^^ 
substance  should  by  any  ^ance  escape  detects. 

(8)  Above  aU,  the  severity  of  die  sentence  to  be  ^e 
cuted  upon  any  who  broke  this  law  indicat^  that  God 
considered  this  a  matter  of  vital,  importance. 

S  a5^^^^^^  these  precautions  taken  merely  to  com- 
memoSe  thffact  that  the  IsraeHtes  left  Egypt  so^r- 
Syrimt  they  could  not  wait  for  their  bread  to  nse? 

179 


n 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 


I'll 


We,  who  believe  that  all  history  centers  in  the  person  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  regard  every  part  of  the  Old 
Testament  as  fully  intelligible  only  in  its  relation  to 
Christ.  All  the  injunctions  vrith  regard  to  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Jewish  Passover  assume  an  important  signifi- 
cance in  the  light  of  their  connection  with  the  institu- 
tion of  the  sacrament  of  His  Body  and  Blood,  which 
our  Lord  inaugurated  on  the  evening  of  His  last  Pass- 
over Feast.  In  this  light  it  is  obvious  that  God  laid  such 
stringent  regulations  upon  the  Jews  regarding  leaven  in 
order  that,  when  our  Lord  instituted  His  sacrament,  un- 
leavened bread  should  be  used,  and  that  the  bread  of 
which  he  said,  "This  is  my  Body,"  should  not  contain 
the  sporadic  action  of  yeast.  The  inference  from  this 
is  unavoidable.  We  must  infer  that  there  is  something 
about  the  atomic  action  of  the  spores  of  leaven  that 
hinders  the  due  fertilization  of  the  baptismal  ovule  by 
the  sacramental  pwllen,  contained  in  the  consecrated 
elements  of  bread  and  wine.  Of  course,  God,  being  All- 
powerful,  could,  and  doubtless  does,  bring  about  the 
desired  change  in  the  atomic  aflSnities  of  leavened  bread 
in  spite  of  the  hostile  sporadic  action  of  leaven;  but  we 
observe  that  He  always  works  in  accordance  with  natural 
laws;  and  the  pains,  which  He  has  taken  to  impress  upon 
us  the  necessity  for  the  use  of  unleavened  bread  imply: 
that  He  wishes  His  mode  of  imparting  and  nourishing 
the  germ  of  the  Resurrection-body  to  be  in  accordance 
with  the  regular  action  of  spores  and  germs;  that  He 
wishes  His  instructions  to  be  followed  to  the  very  letter, 
and  that,  if  any  individual,  or  religious  body,  in  defiance 
of  Scripture,  and  merely  to  be  opposite  to  the  custom 


i8o 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

of  any  other  reUgious>dy,  shallluse  leavenedTlDreadin 
Se  Jcrament,  The  Ufe  germ  of  the  Resurrection-body 
may  thereby  have  its  vitaUty  seriously  ^paired. 

Everything  that  is  wiU  last  forever,  in  soine  form.  It 
may  not  be  always  as  it  is  now;  but  it  wiU  last  m  ite 
TLlt  shape  a5  long  a^  it  suits  God's  purposes,  and 
Sr  it  will  persist  in  whatever  form  God  desires  it  to 
rS  on,  or  allows  it  to  choose.  Nothmg  tl^t  has  existed 
S  cLe  to  exist.  The  conservation  of  force  is  as  tme 
as  that  of  matter.  God  is  in  all  things,  and  God  is  Me, 
Aerefo^,  there  is  life  in  aU  things.  GodisEverlastog; 
therefore   Ufe  is  everlasting.    A  deciduous  tree  sheds 

Ses  and  they  seem  to  die;  but  the  leaf  is  made  up 
of  millio.^  of  live  atoms.  These  do  not  die.  The  leaves 
Jot  and  fertilize  the  sou.    The  same  tree,  or  some  odi«, 

absorbs  these  very  atoms.  The  ^^^^"^.^^^jr^^ 
of  units  which  change  their  combinations  but  ^ver  ie^ 
They  sometimes  form  aggregations  that  do  °ot jeem 
to  li  to  be  aUve;  but  that  is  because  we  have  not 
faculties  fine  enough  to  observe  their  actioi^-  ^f^^ 
we  divide  nature  into  two  ^mds:  orgamc  whose  Me  is 
manifest;  and  inorganic,  whose  Me  is  hidden,  or  whose 
construction  is  too  fine  to  be  detected. 

Death  is  only  an  alteration  in  the  form  of  Me.  It  js  a 
disintegration,  leading  to  a  higher  integration,  to  a  la^er 
soul,  to  a  simpler  organism.  All  progress  m  the  um- 
S  means  progress  towards  simpUcity  and  umty.  The 
SrtS  fe  in  all  difierentiated  things  is  everlasting. 
¥heSisl  wMch  it  dweUs,  these  alone  are  destroyed^ 
Each  Mghlyldifferentiated  fonn  dies  to^ve  way  to  a 
more  integrated  or  less  complex  one.    The  hghter  a 

i8i 


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fl  I 


Sj 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

substance  is,  the  more  complex  it  is.  The  Ufe  of  the 
atom  of  hydrogen  is  everlasting;  but  hydrogen  itself 
ever  dies  to  become  something  heavier  and  more  con- 
densed. Its  affinity  for  other  substances  is  simply  its 
yearning  for  a  higher  and  more  unified  life.  It  is  the 
instinctive  craving  of  Being  to  be  free  from  non-being; 
of  unity  to  be  free  from  diversity;  of  the  Infinite  to  be 
free  from  the  finite.  The  Hfe  of  man  craves  the  fife  of 
God  for  the  same  reason.  Man*s  true  home  is  Heaven, 
not  earth.  The  life  that  is  his  is  universal.  It  is  only 
the  localized  manifestation  of  that  life  that  shifts.  The 
life  lives,  recognizes  itself  throughout  its  progress,  and 
will  be  fully  conscious  of  itself  only  in  Heaven. 

When  we  say  that  we  believe  in  everlasting  Hfe  for 
man,  we  do  not  mean  an  existence  imbroken  by  what 
we  call  death,  but  one  that  goes  from  death  to  death, 
attaining  at  each  step  a  higher  life,  imtil  it  reaches  the 
height  of  the  Source  of  all  life.  The  same  word 
**aionios'*  is  used  to  describe  both  eternal  hfe  and 
eternal  death.  It  means  * '  age  long", "  from  age  to  age**, 
or,  perhaps,  "from  stage  to  stage".  The  process  runs 
from  Hfe  to  death,  from  this  death  to  Hfe;  from  this  Hfe  to 
death  again,  from  this  death  to  Hfe  again;  and  so  on- 
ward, stage  beyond  stage,  until  the  acme  of  unity  is 
reached.  At  this  point  Hfe  itself  becomes  a  monotonous 
level;  but  God's  purpose  alters,  and  His  loving  impulse, 
having  no  other  and  adequate  object  to  work  upon,  in 
order  that  it  may  have  scope  to  grow  (for  such  is 
the  nature  of  love),  aUows  the  Disintegrator  another 
temporary  triumph.  So  onward,  through  the  eternal 
ages,  the  Love  of  God  widens  and  intensifies;  and  ever- 

182 


THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  INTEGRATION. 

lastme  life  is  made  interesting  and  enjoyable  by  the 
overcoming  of  ugliness,  evil,  and  error,  and  by  the  de- 
velopment of  beauty,  goodness,  and  truth;  and  Gods 
creatures  are  made  happier,  stage  by  stage  as  they 
reaHze  the  beneficence  that  underhes  their  temporary 
suffering. 


THE  END. 


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The  philosophy  of  integration 


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